Auction 161

Online Catalogue with all Lots / Auction 161
Rare Books, Prints, Historical Photography

Saturday, 24 October 2026

Lose 1 - 1706

Lot 16 Ambrosius Theodosius Macrobius. In Somnium Scipionis, Lib. …

In Somnium Scipionis, Lib. II., Saturnaliorum, Lib. VII. Mit Titelholzschn.-Vignette, 6 schematischen Textholzschnitten und 1 Weltkarte als Textholzschnitt. Lyon, Pganus, 1560. 567 S., 35 Bll. Ldr. d. Zt. mit Wappensupralibros (bestoßen, Rücken restauriert und aufgezogen).

Naturwissenschaften - Kosmologie

Alte Drucke, Bibeln, Klassische Autoren in den Originalsprachen – Spätere Ausgabe, kollationsgleich mit der Ausgabe 1550 bei Gryphius. - Adams M 69 - Baudrier IV, 281 - Ebert 12716 - Mit der erstmals 1483 erschienene Weltkarte (S. 144, ca. 8 x 8 cm), mit der Antipodenwelt, eine sogenannte Zonen- oder Klimakarte, die im Süden der Alten Welt einen Kontinent zeigt (Shirley 13). - Der Band vereint die beiden einzigen erhaltenen Werke des spätantiken Neuplatonikers Macrobius (um 400 n. Chr.): den zweibändigen Kommentar zu Ciceros "Somnium Scipionis", der berühmten Traumvision Scipios am Ende von dessen "De re publica", sowie die "Saturnalia" in sieben Büchern, ein fiktives Tischgespräch gelehrter Männer im Haus des Vettius Praetextatus während der Saturnalien, das eine Fülle antiquarischen, mythologischen und grammatikalischen Wissens versammelt. Der Kommentar zum "Somnium Scipionis" gehört zu den einflussreichsten kosmologischen Texten des Mittelalters und der frühen Neuzeit und enthält Macrobius' Theorie der Klimazonen sowie sein berühmtes Weltbild mit der hypothetischen Gegenerde (Antichthon bzw. Antipodes), das als Gegengewicht zur bekannten nördlichen Landmasse dienen sollte. Die vorliegende Ausgabe illustriert dies mit den charakteristischen sechs schematischen Diagrammen zu Sphärenlehre und Klimazonen sowie der kleinen kreisförmigen Weltkarte, die die Erde in die fünf Zonen - die bewohnbare "Temperata Nostra", die unbewohnbaren Kältezonen "Frigida" an den Polen und die von der Sonne "verbrannte" Äquatorialzone "Perusta" - gliedert und damit auf die seit der Editio princeps von Brescia 1483 tradierte Bildformel zurückgreift, die maßgeblich zur Verbreitung der Antipoden-Theorie in der Renaissance beitrug. Teils etwas gebräunt, erste 2 Bll. mit kleinen Randläsuren, leere Titelrückseite und 1. Textseite mit roten Krakeleien, sonst gutes Exemplar.

Prints before 1600, Bibles, Classics in Original Languages – Later edition, matching the collation of the 1550 Gryphius edition. Adams M 69. Baudrier IV, 281. Ebert 12716. With the world map first published in 1483 (p. 144, approx. 8 x 8 cm), depicting the Antipodean world-a so-called zone or climate map showing a continent in the southern part of the Old World (Shirley 13). The volume brings together the only two surviving works of the late-antique Neoplatonist Macrobius (c. 400 AD): the two-book commentary on Cicero's "Somnium Scipionis," the famous dream vision of Scipio at the end of his "De re publica," together with the "Saturnalia" in seven books, a fictional dinner-table conversation among learned men at the house of Vettius Praetextatus during the Saturnalia, which brings together a wealth of antiquarian, mythological, and grammatical knowledge. The commentary on the "Somnium Scipionis" ranks among the most influential cosmological texts of the Middle Ages and the early modern period. It contains Macrobius's theory of the climate zones as well as his celebrated view of the world featuring the hypothetical counter-earth (Antichthon, or Antipodes), conceived as a counterweight to the known northern landmass. The present edition illustrates this with the characteristic six schematic diagrams on the theory of the spheres and the climate zones, along with the small circular world map dividing the earth into five zones-the habitable "Temperata Nostra," the uninhabitable frigid zones "Frigida" at the poles, and the equatorial zone "Perusta," scorched by the sun. In doing so, it draws on the pictorial formula transmitted since the editio princeps of Brescia, 1483, which played a decisive role in spreading the theory of the Antipodes during the Renaissance. Partly somewhat browned, the first two leaves with small marginal defects, the blank title verso and first text page with red scribbles, otherwise a good copy.

Startprice: 300 €
Estimate: 450 €

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Auction 161