Arte Del Navigare dell'eccel Dottor Pietro Da Medina
- Venice: Appresso Tomaso Baglioni, 1609
Venice: Appresso Tomaso Baglioni, 1609. Second edition in Italian. Small quarto (7 3/4 x 5 3/4 inches; 197 x 145 mm.). [xiv], 137, [3, blank] pp. Title-page printed in red and black and with a large woodcut. Full-page woodcut map of Europe, the Atlantic Ocean and the New World on page 33 (identical to the 1554 edition) and numerous woodcut illustrations and diagrams throughout. Numerous woodcut head pieces and initial letters. Early ink name on either side of woodcut, library blind-stamp at top of title. Bound in contemporary mottled calf, spine with four raised bands, decoratively tooled and lettered in gilt in compartments. Spine expertly repaired at head and foot, armorial book-plate of the Earl of Macclesfield on front paste-down.
Pedro de Medina (1493-1576) was a cleric and cartographer who served as the librarian to the duke of Medina-Sidonia, and later as cosmografo de honor for Emperor Charlves V in 1549. His book, as Arte de Navegar (or "Art of Navigation") was first published in Spanish in 1545. The treatise on nautical navigation which dealt with compass navigation became a popular and a foundational text for sailors, especially those making transatlantic voyages, with multiple translations into French Italian, German, English and Dutch. The present copy is the second Italian edition, and was translated by Vincenzo Palentino. "The Venice blocks were used again in a Venice edition by Tomaso Baglione. Six blocks of the 1554 set, apparently lost, were replaced by repetitions, and several blocks were turned in printing. Tables and calendar. Type ornaments. Putti, historiated and foliated initials. The historiated initials include a set of burning cities. Roman letter, text endings in decorative forms." (Harvard, Italian 16th Century Books).
European Americana 569/32. JCB I, p. 240. Sabin 47345 note. STC French, p. 308. Palau, 159680. Italian 16th Century Books (Harvard College Library) #300 (1554 edition).
Pedro de Medina (1493-1576) was a cleric and cartographer who served as the librarian to the duke of Medina-Sidonia, and later as cosmografo de honor for Emperor Charlves V in 1549. His book, as Arte de Navegar (or "Art of Navigation") was first published in Spanish in 1545. The treatise on nautical navigation which dealt with compass navigation became a popular and a foundational text for sailors, especially those making transatlantic voyages, with multiple translations into French Italian, German, English and Dutch. The present copy is the second Italian edition, and was translated by Vincenzo Palentino. "The Venice blocks were used again in a Venice edition by Tomaso Baglione. Six blocks of the 1554 set, apparently lost, were replaced by repetitions, and several blocks were turned in printing. Tables and calendar. Type ornaments. Putti, historiated and foliated initials. The historiated initials include a set of burning cities. Roman letter, text endings in decorative forms." (Harvard, Italian 16th Century Books).
European Americana 569/32. JCB I, p. 240. Sabin 47345 note. STC French, p. 308. Palau, 159680. Italian 16th Century Books (Harvard College Library) #300 (1554 edition).