Ptolemaeus, Claudius.

first ulm edition, Royal folio (415 x 280mm.), 133 leaves, double column, 44 lines, 32 woodcut maps (all but one double-page) finely coloured by a contemporary hand, 4 woodcut diagrams in the text, 13-line historiated woodcut initial depicting Donnus Nicolaus Germanus presenting his book to Pope Paul II, 8-line historiated woodcut initial depicting Ptolemy, 142 6-line woodcut initials coloured in red, green and ochre, 3-line initial supplied in red ink, sub-headings highlighted in ochre, paragraph-marks and initial-strokes supplied in red, eighteenth-century green morocco, single-fillet and roll-tooled border, flat spine gilt, red morocco lettering-pieces, slight worming, occasionally affecting maps towards end, a few maps shaved just affecting borders or side-notes, tiny corner chip to world map (lower left, repaired), lettering-pieces chipped

Bibliotheca collegii Sancti Cuthberti, bookplate, library label at base of spine

HC*13539; GW M36379; BMC ii 538; Bodleian XVc. P-528; IGI 8183; Goff P-1084; Nordenskiold Collection 2:199; Schreiber 5031; Shirley, British Library T.PTOL–4

Condition is described in the main body of the cataloguing, where appropriate
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

a fine, bright copy of one of the greatest and most ambitious productions of the fifteenth century, and the most sought-after of all the ptolemaic atlases. It was the first atlas to be printed outside italy, and the first to include a corpus of "modern" maps.

Editions before the Ulm Ptolemy used copperplate engravings reproducing only the twenty-seven maps based on Ptolemy's second-century descriptions. this edition incorporates for the first time modern maps by the ground-breaking renaissance cartographer donnus nicolaus, comprising spain, italy, france, palestine and scandinavia, including iceland and greenland.

All fifteenth-century printed editions of Ptolemy were based on the work of Donnus Nicolaus, a Benedictine monk from the diocese of Breslau, who prepared a series of magnificent vellum manuscript atlases in Florence in the 1460s and 1470s for presentation to various Italian dignitaries. The direct model for the Ulm edition was the manuscript atlas that Donnus Nicolaus made for presentation to Pope Paul II (d. 1471), which seems to have been carried from Rome to Ulm for the purpose, and then never returned. It is preserved at Schloss Wolfegg.

The world map in the Ulm Ptolemy, signed by the woodcutter Johannes Schnitzer, is the first signed printed map of its kind (Shirley 10). It also has the earliest depiction of Scandinavia and Greenland in a world map.

The exceptionally elegant type (the source for the Ashendene Press's second type) was the largest Antiqua to be cut in the fifteenth century. The extraordinary costs of the enterprise led to Holle's rapid financial ruin. Shortly before publication, the Duke of Milan wrote to the council of Ulm, on behalf of the Milanese paper merchants, complaining about the exorbitant sum of money still unpaid for the Ptolemy's paper supply. The large number of copies of Italian provenance, unusual for a German incunable, suggests that Holle attempted to pay off his Milanese debt in kind.