Lot 149: BERLINGHERI,

Francesco (1440-1501). Geographia di Francesco Berlinghieri fiorentino in terza rima et lingua toscana distincta con le sue tavole in varii siti et provincie seconda La Geographia et distinctione dele tavole di Ptolomeo. With additions by Marsiglio Ficino. [Florence: Nicolaus Laurentii Alemanus, before September 1482]. 2 o (425 x 285 mm). 125 leaves (of 126; without the final leaf with the register and colophon, but with the three blanks). 51 lines and headline, double- and triple-column. Roman types 4a:116, 4b:115 and 6a:111. 31 engraved Ptolomaic and "modern" maps (29 double-page, 2 full-page) printed on 60 leaves, mounted on guards (condition varies, some maps with marginal repairs affecting images, including: Tabula secunda de Europa, Tabula quarta [-quinta, -sexta, -nona, -decima] de Europa, Tabula moderna de Italia, Tabula prima [-tertia, -octava, -nona, -decima] de Asia, Palestina moderna, with greater loss of image to the maps of Italy and India; world map cropped at sides, several maps misbound, occasional light discoloration). Initial spaces with printed guide-letters. Title printed in red. (Portion of first blank torn away, title remargined and with large central square patch not affecting text, few other marginal repairs.) Modern blue morocco. Provenance : "Property of a Gentleman" (sold Sotheby's London, 11 March 1999, lot 4). ONLY THE THIRD PRINTED ATLAS, AND THE FIRST PRINTED IN THE ITALIAN LANGUAGE. Berlinghieri's terza rima adaptation of Ptolemy's Cosmographia is particularly notable for its inclusion of four "modern" maps: Spain, France, Italy and Palestine, which just preceded the woodcut maps of the Ulm edition of the same year (Goff P-1084). Berlinghieri's is also the only edition with the maps printed on the original Ptolemaic projection of equidistant parallels and meridians and the first to supply gazetteers for the maps. The copper-plates have been attributed to Francesco Roselli, an engraver active in Florence, but the actual identity remains unresolved. Like most copies, the present belongs to the second issue, with the red-printed title added to the previously blank recto of the original title-leaf. This new text was probably printed within the first two decades of the sixteenth-century and could not have been done by Laurentii, whose last printed work was completed in June 1486. BMC calls the new gothic and roman types "certainly later than 1500." The second issue also included a register and colophon, which here is lacking. BMC VI, 629; Campbell, pp.133-35; H *2825; IGI 1492; Nordenski”ld 3; Sabin 66501; Sander 927; Shirley 9; Stillwell Science 147; The World Encompassed 39; Goff B-342.