Forgotten for a millennium in Western Europe, the Cosmographia by Claudius Ptolemaeus returned to Italy from Constantinople. Scholars immediately appreciate the great content of this antique work. Jacobus Angelus translates the Cosmographia from Greek to Latin circa 1406. Nicolaus Germanus later proceeds to update the work and incorporate the discoveries of his time.
Germanus had completed his work in 1482. Without removing the authorship reference to Ptolemy, he edited his maps in Ulm while using the translation by Angelus. The woodcut is a recent technique that significantly improves the diffusion of the maps. For the first time, a map by Germanus is signed by its engraver, Johannes (Schnitzer) in Armsheim. Armsheim is 30 Km away from Mainz, the city where Gutenberg had operated.
The first editor, Lienhart Holle, has no more chance than Gutenberg: he is bankrupted by the magnitude of his work. A copy from his edition was sold for £ 510K including premium by Sotheby's on November 4, 2014.
His experience benefits another printer in Ulm, Johann Reger, who recovers the undamaged materials and plates of Holle and republishes the Cosmographia without significant change in 1486. The book meets now the success that it deserved: the printing by Reger is estimated at about 1000 copies.
The best examples are colored by hand. A 1486 Cosmographia was sold for £ 360K including premium by Sotheby's on April 29, 2014 despite the absence of three sheets of text. Another copy described as splendid in a binding of its time is estimated $ 600K for sale by Christie's in New York on April 5, lot 8.
SOLD for $ 730K including premium
Germanus had completed his work in 1482. Without removing the authorship reference to Ptolemy, he edited his maps in Ulm while using the translation by Angelus. The woodcut is a recent technique that significantly improves the diffusion of the maps. For the first time, a map by Germanus is signed by its engraver, Johannes (Schnitzer) in Armsheim. Armsheim is 30 Km away from Mainz, the city where Gutenberg had operated.
The first editor, Lienhart Holle, has no more chance than Gutenberg: he is bankrupted by the magnitude of his work. A copy from his edition was sold for £ 510K including premium by Sotheby's on November 4, 2014.
His experience benefits another printer in Ulm, Johann Reger, who recovers the undamaged materials and plates of Holle and republishes the Cosmographia without significant change in 1486. The book meets now the success that it deserved: the printing by Reger is estimated at about 1000 copies.
The best examples are colored by hand. A 1486 Cosmographia was sold for £ 360K including premium by Sotheby's on April 29, 2014 despite the absence of three sheets of text. Another copy described as splendid in a binding of its time is estimated $ 600K for sale by Christie's in New York on April 5, lot 8.
SOLD for $ 730K including premium
A fantastic 1486 #Ptolemy #preview for sale on 5 April @ChristiesInc #NY #Perrette now in #London @ChristiesBKS pic.twitter.com/3Om4C9EJhC
— Stefania Pandakovic (@StefPandakovic) March 15, 2016
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