De situ orbis habitabilis.
Venice, Franciscus Renner, de Heilbronn, 1478
Dionysius was a scholar-poet who flourished in Alexandria during the reign of Hadrian in the second century AD. In antiquity, his description of the world as it was then known was widely read and extremely influential, particularly among later poets. Translated into Latin, the subject of commentaries, and popular in Byzantium, it offers insights into multiple traditions of ancient geography, both literary and more scientific, and displays interesting affiliations to the earlier school of Alexandrian poets. Dionysius of Alexandria, called Periegetes (the guide), was a contemporary of the great Hellenistic geographers Marinus of Tyre and Claudius Ptolemy.
Second edition; 4to, (20.1 x 15.7 cm); four-line incipit printed in red, white-on-black woodcut initials, text printed on 26 lines, table in two columns, printed marginalia, some leaves browned, occasional light dampstaining, scattered light foxing, Latin inscription to e6v; later full vellum over boards, some light rubbing and soiling to boards, otherwise a very good copy; collation: a-c8 d-e6 (a1r translator's preface addressed to Hieronymus de Leonardis, a3r text, e5r colophon, e5v table of contents, e6v blank), 36 leaves total.
ISTC id00254000; Goff D254; H 6227*; GfT 556; Klebs 340.2; Pell 4294; CIBN D-161; Arnoult 543; Richard 196.
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