Reisch | Margarita philosophica, Basel, 1508, later vellum

Gregor Reisch

Margarita philosophica cum additionibus novis. Basel: (Michael Furter and) Johann Schott, 1508

4to (212 x 143mm.), title printed in red and black, large woodcut illustration on title-page, numerous woodcut illustrations and diagrams, 2 folding woodcut plates in music section (one with slight loss along fold), woodcut music, folding woodcut Ptolemaic

world map (with foolscap watermark) surrounded by twelve windheads (one with spectacles), early annotations (some washed), later vellum, a8 misbound after b7, first quire slightly soiled and with most leaves reattached, map torn and creased, N5 torn and repaired in gutter with slight loss of text at head, final quire with substantial repairs includings sections of text supplied in manuscript, some staining and foxing throughout (particularly to upper corners)

Reisch's encyclopedia of science, medicine, music, arithmetic and geometry, natural history and philosophy was first printed by Schott in 1503 in Freiburg, with the same woodcut map; later editions had the map in a reduced or modernised version.

LITERATURE

VD16 R 1036