CELLARIUS (Christoph).

Notitia Orbis Antiqui, sive Geographia Plenior, Ab ortu Rerumpublicarum ad Constantinorum tempera Orbis terrarum faciem declarans ... et novis tabulis geographicis ...

Quarto (241 x 190 mm); 2 vols., vol. I: title-page printed in red and black with vignette, frontispiece portrait of Cellarius, [xiv], 862, [38]pp., twenty folding engraved maps, one folding diagram; vol. II: title-page printed in red and black with vignette, [12], 544, 166, [38]pp, thirteen folding engraved maps; decorative initial capitals, head and tailpieces. Contemporary speckled calf, covers panelled in blind, gilt titling and red morocco labels to spines. Some slight wear (particularly to the spines), headcap of vol. 2 chipped, corners bumped. Cambridge : John Owen & Amsterdam : Caspar Fritsch, 1703.

£3,000.00

Christoph Cellarius (1638-1707) was an important geographical writer and classical historian, generally credited with popularising the concept of ancient, mediaeval and modern periods in history.

His Notitia Orbis Antiqui was first published in Leipzig in 1701. When John Owen, Printer to the University of Cambridge, undertook a new edition, he copied the maps for volume I from the Leipzig edition. He advertised this first volume in The Post Man, 17th-19th December 1702, at 15s. in sheets, although the title-page, as usual for books published late in a year, is dated 1703. A subsequent advertisement added “… The Book contains 115 sheets and 21 half sheet maps, which for the price is reckoned but 1 penny per sheet, and the maps at 3d. each, it being printed with new Characters and on very good French Demy Paper.” (idem, 5th-7th January, 1703).

The project appears not to have been a success for Owen. The second volume was printed in Amsterdam, using the printing plates from the Leipzig edition.

References: ESTC T144498; Shirley, T.CELL-2a & T.CELL-2b.

Stock No.
224648