![HYGINUS MYTHOGRAPHUS [Jacobus Sentinus and Johannes Lucilius Santritter--eds.] Poeticon astronomicon. [i.e. Clarissimi uiri Hyginii Poeticon astronomicon opus utilissimum].](/sites/default/files/styles/auction_slider/public/images/lots/960/1597960.jpg?itok=yrGIvGfE)
Lot Details
Lot 149
HYGINUS MYTHOGRAPHUS [Jacobus Sentinus and Johannes Lucilius Santritter--eds.] Poeticon astronomicon. [i.e. Clarissimi uiri Hyginii Poeticon astronomicon opus utilissimum].
Venice: Erhard Ratdolt, 14 October 1482. The second edition (following the 1475 Ferrara edition), but the first illustrated, and thus the first printed depictions of the Classical figures of the constellations; of the planets--Venus, Mercury, Jupiter, Saturn and Mars; and of the sun and moon. Early 20th century Italian calf-backed boards, ocher paper sides; housed in a leather-backed slipcase and chemise. 7 7/8 x 5 1/2 inches (20 x 14 cm); 57 (of 58) leaves, 31 lines, collating a-f^(8) g^(10) (but N.B. lacking the initial blank, a1); title on a2r printed in red, 11-, 7-, 5- and 3-line white-on-black woodcut initials; 47 half-page woodcuts, probably designed by Santritter, of the constellation and planet figures; most of the woodcuts are partially colored (as is the case in many copies) in a very early hand, who has also foliated to leaf 25 and has left neat marginal annotations on a few leaves in salmon pink. Generally a crisp and well-margined copy, some leaves a little toned (mostly at the beginning and end of signature g), a few mostly minor stains, two or three tiny marginal nicks or tears, a very few small wormholes, occasional foxing and soiling. Marginalia in several early hands, including an illegible name (?Johanimus...) on the verso of the final leaf.
The text here was traditionally assigned to Caius Julius Hyginus, librarian of the Palatine Library, but this is known to be incorrect: the present Hyginus authored two mythographic manuals in Latin, including the present work and a Genealogia or Fabulae. His work was widely used in the Middle Ages as a source of astronomical information. The intermittent coloring in this copy is often very good, and certainly early; careful hatching and outlining in salmon is evidenced (by the first or a very early owner), with earth tones and a very pale green also used on some figures. ISTC ih00560000; GW 13678; Goff H560; HC 9062*; Klebs 527.2; Redgrave 30; Essling 285; Sander 3472 etc.
C Property from the Collection of Alastair Bradley Martin
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