Theatri geographiae veteris Tomus prior in quo Cl. Ptol. Alexandrini Geographiæ libri VIII Græcé et Latiné Græca ad codices Palatinos collata aucta et emendata sunt Latina infinitis locis corecta opera P. Bertii Christianißimi Galliarum Regis Cosmographi
Amsterdam [Leiden]: [Isaac Elzevir for] Jocodus Hondius, 1618 [1619]. First edition. Two parts bound in one.
Folio in 6s (17 3/16” x 10 15/16”, 436mm x 277mm): binder’s blank, π2 *–***2 A–V6 X4 Y–Z2 2A–Z2 Aa–Bb2 Cc–Dd6 Ee2 AA–GG6 HH–MM2 NN6 OO4 PP2 (–PP2) QQ–SS2 TT2 (–TT2) VV2 XX4 (–XX4) YY–ZZ2 AAA2 CCC–KKK2 LLL2 (–LLL2) [$4 signed; –*1, A1, 2A2; AAA2 signed “BBB”]. 298 leaves, pp. [16] (half-title, blank, title, blank, dedication, blank, 10pp. preface) 1–2 3–253 (253pp. book VIII of Ptolemy’s Geographiæ) [1] (blank) [102] (102pp. Tabula Universalis) 1–2 3–28 (28pp. Mercator’s In Tabulas Ptolemaicas) [40] (40pp. index) 1 2–46 [16] (15pp. Tabula itineraria, blank) 1–20 [74] (72pp. Mercator’s Tabulæ Aliquot, ad lectorum, colophon). With 2 engraved title-pages, 1 engraved portrait of Mercator, 2 engravings integral to the text, 11 woodcuts integral to the text, and 47 engraved maps, of which 42 are double-page and 4 are folding.
Bound in contemporary red morocco. On the spine, 5 raised bands. “clavdii / ptolemæi / geographiæ” gilt to the second panel. Date gilt to the heel. Gilt filet to the dentelles. All edges of the text-block gilt. Presented in a red cloth clamshell box.
Light rubbing to the fore-corners. Backstrip starting at the head and front hinge cracked (not visible at the joint). Foxing and sporadic toning throughout. Loss to the upper fore-corner of GG5 and infill to the upper fore-corner from KKK1–LLL1 (3 leaves). Collated complete against Sabin, “sig PP in one…TT in one…XX in three”
Pieter de Bert (here, Petrus Bertius; 1565–1629) was born in Beveren to a devout Protestant preacher. Facing religious exile, his family fled to London when he was three years old and de Bert would only return to the Low Countries as a young man to attend the University of Leiden. A bright pupil, de Bert worked as a tutor and was named subregent of the Leiden Statencollege in 1593. He ascended to the position of regent in 1606, upon the death of the former regent (and de Bert’s father-in-law), Johannes Kuchlinus. During his teaching, de Bert published Hymenaeus desertor, a Latin work that went further than Arminius in theology and posited that a saint could fall away (apostate) from belief and grace. The publication was poorly received and undermined his standing within the Dutch Reformed establishment. De Bert eventually lost his teaching position and was forbidden from offering private lessons.
Despite his “radical” past, de Bert was named cosmographer to Louis XIII in 1618 and, in a surprising twist, converted to Catholicism. Theatri geographiae veteris was published soon after his appointment. Described by Sabin as “an important and valuable work,” the ambitious volume was a revised and expanded edition of Mercator’s 1578 publication on Ptolemy’s Geographiæ. Theatri geographiae veteris combined the talents of multiple cartographers, with the second part consisting of the Tabula Peutingeriana and Ortelius’s maps of the ancient world first published in the “Parergon,” and the printing being a collaboration with de Bert’s brother-in-law and a lauded cartographer in his own right, Jocodus Hondius. Late in his life, de Bert later took up a position as professor of rhetoric at the Collège de Boncourt (University of Paris) and, in 1622, Louis XIII created a chart of mathematics specifically for de Bert and named him his royal historian.
Koeman I, Ber 1; van der Krogt-Koeman I:512A; Sabin 66497
Cataloged by G.R. Murdock
Item #GRM0060
Price: $28,000