THEVET (André). Cosmographie de Levant. - Lot 101

Lot n° 101.2
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THEVET (André). Cosmographie de Levant. - Lot 101
THEVET (André). Cosmographie de Levant. Lyon, Jean de Tournes and Guillaume Gazeau, 1554. In-4° of 214-[15]-1bl.-2bl. pages, olive calf, triple gilt fillets on covers, interior roulette, ornate ribbed spine, red edges (19th century binding). "This volume is rare; moreover, it is a masterpiece of typography, and the remarkable figures of the Petit Bernard must assure it a place among precious books" (Cartier). ORIGINAL EDITION of the first work by Franciscan traveler André Thevet (1516-1590), who was visiting Italy when he met Cardinal de Lorraine in Piacenza, who gave him the means to travel to Constantinople, where he arrived in November 1549. From there, he went on to visit the islands of the Eastern Mediterranean, Egypt, Palestine and Asia Minor, as he states in his epistle: "Not only the peregrinacion made in the Holy Land, which is quite common to Christians, but also the discourse of the voyage of Greece, Turkey, Egypt, Mount Sinai, Iudea, until Antioch and Armenia and several isles both fertile and sterile". This travel report is illustrated with 27 SUPERB WOODEN FIGURES, including a portrait of the author at the end, all by Petit Bernard (Athenians killing wolves, crocodile chasing a man, pygmies fighting cranes, hippodrome in Constantinople, giraffe driven by a man, pyramid in Egypt, etc.). One of the most famous illustrations is that of the Colossus of Rhodes. On his return, Thevet passed through Lyon, where he probably made a deal with Jean de Tournes for the printing of his volume. Covers worn, hinges badly split, title-piece missing, rings in bottom margin and marginal repair at bottom of one leaf. (Harvard 515 - Brun p. 300-301 - Brunet VI, 814 - Adams, II, 621 - USTC - Cartier n°287 - Rothschild II, 1931).
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