1502 STRABO DE SITU ORBIS (Geographica)

FULL TITLE: STRABO DE SITV ORBIS

Published by: Impreſſum Venetiis per Betholomeum de Zanis de Porteſio, Anno Domini, M.ccccc.ii.die.xiiii, Ianuarii.  (Printed in Venice by Betholomeum de Zanis de Portesio, In the year of the Lord 1502, 14th day of January.) 

Language: Latin translation from Ancient Greek original. 

DESCRIPTION:

Rare post-incunable 1502 sixth edition of Strabo’s Geographica, translated to Latin as De Situ Orbis by Guarino da Verona and Gregorio Tifernate. The text contains woodcut initials and a table of names and subjects housed in full vellum Italian binding of the 18th century. Imprint from colophon. Edited by Antonio Mancinelli (as appears in the preface dated 1494).

Strabo (c. 64 BCE - c. 21 CE) was a Greek historian, philosopher and geographer active during the transition between the Roman Republic and Empire. In his work Geographica (Γεωγραφικά Geōgraphiká) Strabo took as his subject the entirety of his known world, “... knowledge both of the heavens and of things on land and sea, animals, plants, fruits, and everything else to be seen in various regions” (Book 1 Chap 1). This immense undertaking resulted in “...the only extant work covering the whole range of peoples and countries known to both Greeks and Romans during the reign of Augustus (27 BCE–14 CE)” (Britannica, “Strabo”).      

The first ten books of Strabo’s work are here translated by Guarino Veronese (Guarino da Verona) (1374 – 1460), while the remaining seven books are translated by Gregorio Tifernate (1414 – 1462), both were influential humanist figures of the early Italian Renaissance.

Guarino Veronese (Guarino da Verona) is considered a founder of Greek studies in western Europe and renowned as a teacher of other early humanist scholars. After studying in Constantinople under Manuel Chrysoloras, Guarino returned to Italy with an important collection of Greek manuscripts which he translated to Latin. He worked teaching Greek in both Florence and Venice, and compiled the first Latin grammar of the Renaissance, Regulae grammaticales in 1418 (Britannica, “Guarino Veronese”).

Gregorio Tifernate also studied under Manuel Chrysoloras, and contributed to Hellenic studies in western Europe by petitioning the University of Paris for an appointment as the institution's first teacher of Greek in 1458 (Jeeb 1903, 575).

A wonderful gift for any bibliophile. A beautiful example of the burgeoning interest in Greek works by early humanists of the Renaissance in western Europe.  

Of interest to those passionate about: History, Classical Studies, Linguistics, Geography, Anthropology, Renaissance studies, early print culture,  book studies, . 

Sources

Lassare, François (2019). “Strabo.” Encyclopedia Britannica.

“Guarino Veronese," Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, inc.(2020).

Jeeb, Richard (1903)."Chapter XVI: The Classical Renaissance," The Cambridge Modern History.