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APIANUS, Petrus.
Cosmographia introductio : cum quibusdam geometriae ac astro nomiae principus ad eam rem necessariis.
Venice, Io. Antonius da Sabbio & Brothers for Melchiore Sessa, July, 1533.
Small octavo, with a large woodcut on title-page of an astrolabe enclosing the world, with a full-page astronomical woodcut on the verso, numerous illustrations and diagrams in the text including a repeated map of Southern Greece, printer's device on last leaf; a few stains but a fine copy in old half red calf.
Rare early edition, in the popular shortened format, of Apianus' hugely popular work on cosmography, an early geographical text with numerous woodcuts of the earth, the Zodiac, and examples of determining longitude and latitude. The book neatly summarises the Renaissance world view, and includes several references to Amerigo Vespucci's discovery of America. The book is notable for 'the division of the earth into climatic zones, the uses of parallels and meridians, the determination of latitude, several methods for determining longitude including that of lunar distance, the use of trigonometry to determine distances, several types of map projections, and many other topics…' (Karrow).
Apianus' work in its full-length form was first published in 1524; it first appeared in this popular format in Antwerp in 1532 or 1533. This is the second edition in this form, and the first of at least seven such editions produced in Italy in the sixteenth century.
One of the most popular of all scientific books, over eighty-five years Apianus' text went through more than forty-five editions, in four languages, published in seven cities, by at least eighteen publishers. This popular version, with its text considerably shortened, contains a number of woodcut illustrations but not the moving volvelles that appear in the full versions.
Alden, 'European Americana', 533/3; Harrisse (BAV) , Add 100; JCB, I, 107; Van Ortroy , 84.
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