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Item #42372 Cosmographicvs liber Petri Apiani mathematici, iam denuo integritati restitutus per Gemmam Phrysium. Item eiusdem Gemmæ Phrysij Libellus de locorum describendorum ratione, & de eorum distantijs inueniendis, nuñq ante hac visus. Peter APIAN, Gemma FRISIUS, and contributor.
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Cosmographicvs liber Petri Apiani mathematici, iam denuo integritati restitutus per Gemmam Phrysium. Item eiusdem Gemmæ Phrysij Libellus de locorum describendorum ratione, & de eorum distantijs inueniendis, nuñq ante hac visus
Cosmographicvs liber Petri Apiani mathematici, iam denuo integritati restitutus per Gemmam Phrysium. Item eiusdem Gemmæ Phrysij Libellus de locorum describendorum ratione, & de eorum distantijs inueniendis, nuñq ante hac visus
Cosmographicvs liber Petri Apiani mathematici, iam denuo integritati restitutus per Gemmam Phrysium. Item eiusdem Gemmæ Phrysij Libellus de locorum describendorum ratione, & de eorum distantijs inueniendis, nuñq ante hac visus
Cosmographicvs liber Petri Apiani mathematici, iam denuo integritati restitutus per Gemmam Phrysium. Item eiusdem Gemmæ Phrysij Libellus de locorum describendorum ratione, & de eorum distantijs inueniendis, nuñq ante hac visus
Cosmographicvs liber Petri Apiani mathematici, iam denuo integritati restitutus per Gemmam Phrysium. Item eiusdem Gemmæ Phrysij Libellus de locorum describendorum ratione, & de eorum distantijs inueniendis, nuñq ante hac visus
Cosmographicvs liber Petri Apiani mathematici, iam denuo integritati restitutus per Gemmam Phrysium. Item eiusdem Gemmæ Phrysij Libellus de locorum describendorum ratione, & de eorum distantijs inueniendis, nuñq ante hac visus
Cosmographicvs liber Petri Apiani mathematici, iam denuo integritati restitutus per Gemmam Phrysium. Item eiusdem Gemmæ Phrysij Libellus de locorum describendorum ratione, & de eorum distantijs inueniendis, nuñq ante hac visus
Cosmographicvs liber Petri Apiani mathematici, iam denuo integritati restitutus per Gemmam Phrysium. Item eiusdem Gemmæ Phrysij Libellus de locorum describendorum ratione, & de eorum distantijs inueniendis, nuñq ante hac visus
Cosmographicvs liber Petri Apiani mathematici, iam denuo integritati restitutus per Gemmam Phrysium. Item eiusdem Gemmæ Phrysij Libellus de locorum describendorum ratione, & de eorum distantijs inueniendis, nuñq ante hac visus
Cosmographicvs liber Petri Apiani mathematici, iam denuo integritati restitutus per Gemmam Phrysium. Item eiusdem Gemmæ Phrysij Libellus de locorum describendorum ratione, & de eorum distantijs inueniendis, nuñq ante hac visus
Cosmographicvs liber Petri Apiani mathematici, iam denuo integritati restitutus per Gemmam Phrysium. Item eiusdem Gemmæ Phrysij Libellus de locorum describendorum ratione, & de eorum distantijs inueniendis, nuñq ante hac visus

Cosmographicvs liber Petri Apiani mathematici, iam denuo integritati restitutus per Gemmam Phrysium. Item eiusdem Gemmæ Phrysij Libellus de locorum describendorum ratione, & de eorum distantijs inueniendis, nuñq ante hac visus

Antuerpiae [Antwerp]: Ioan. Grapheus [Joannes Grapheus] for Arnoldum Birckman [Arnold Birckman], Anno. M.D. XXXIII. mense Febr. [February 1533]. 4to. (8 x 6 inches). A-P4, Q6; O4 verso blank. Leaves signed Aiij-[Qvi] numbered Fol. iii-lxvi. Numerous woodcut illustrations, tables, and diagrams. This copy lacks the movable parts required for the volvelles, but two loose paper volvelle elements accompany the copy; wood-cut element mounted to Fol. lv (as recorded in the JCB copy). Title-page with period reinforcement to lower margin, without loss of text; small period reinforcements to some diagrams; index with period manuscript annotations.

Limp vellum, manuscript titles in ink on the front cover, spine, top edge, and free flyleaf. Last three signatures loose

Gemma Frisius's second Antwerp edition of Apian's foundational cosmographical manual, and the first edition to include Frisius's Libellus de locorum describendorum ratione, the first printed treatise to describe triangulation as a method for surveying and mapping. A compelling, unrestored example of one of the central Renaissance textbooks of cosmography.

Apian's Cosmographicus liber was one of the most influential scientific manuals of the sixteenth century, bringing together astronomy, geography, cartography, navigation, surveying, and mathematical instruments in a compact and heavily illustrated form. First published at Landshut in 1524, the work presented cosmography as a practical discipline, explaining the relation of the earth to the heavens and giving readers the diagrams and instruments needed to calculate latitude, distance, time, climate, and celestial motion. The present 1533 Antwerp edition belongs to the important sequence revised and expanded by Gemma Frisius, the Louvain mathematician, physician, instrument maker, and cartographer. Frisius had first edited Apian's text at Antwerp in 1529; this second Antwerp edition carries the revision further and adds Frisius's own Libellus de locorum describendorum ratione, announced on the title-page as previously unpublished. That short treatise became a landmark in the history of applied geometry. Frisius described how the position of a place could be determined from observations taken at two known points, using a measured baseline and intersecting lines of sight. The method provided the theoretical basis for triangulation in topographical surveying and helped shape the mathematical practice of later mapmaking.

Nijhoff-Kronenberg 123; Harrisse, Bibliotheca Americana Vetustissima, 179; JCB I, 106; Sabin 1742; Alden & Landis 533/5; Van Ortroy, Apian, 27; Karrow, Mapmakers of the Sixteenth Century, pp. 64-65.

Item #42372

Price: $4,000.00