Vespucci, and the Arabian Gulf
De natura locoru[m]. Libru[m] mira eruditio[n]e & singulari fruge refertu[m], & iam primu[m], summa dilige[n]tia revisum [...].
4to. (104) pp. With woodcut title border and full-page woodcut arms of Emperor Maximilian I on verso of final leaf. Papered spine.
€ 8,500.00
Very rare first edition of Albert's general description of the earth, marking the inauguration of scientific geography as an independent discipline and the first attempt at a comparative geography. Edited by the Bavarian mathematician, astronomer and astrologer Georg Tannstetter, who was mainly active in Vienna. "Interesting to the American collector on account of a marginal note relating to Vespuccius, which seems to have been inserted with movable type, on the recto of the last leaf in signature d, after the book had been printed" (Sabin). The contemporary owner, too, has highlighted the name by a marginal ms. note, "Vespucius". Also treats the Middle East with the "sinus Persicus" and "sinus Arabicus" (f. J4r). At the end, Tannstetter provides a brief list of unprinted works by Albertus, to which the contemporary owner has added "De vegetabilis et plantis".
Binding somewhat loosened near beginning; upper edge of title page remargined. Several contemporary marginalia. Occcasional light fingerstaining, but altogether clean and well-preserved.
VD 16, A 1345. IA 102.526. Alden/L. 514/1. Sabin 671. JCB I, 58. Harrisse 76.