Magnus | De gentibus septentrionalibus, Basel, 1567, contemporary Polish pigskin

Olaus Magnus

Historia... de gentium septentrionalium variis conditionibus statibusve... expressis figuris pictis illustratum. Basel: Henricpetri, (March) 1567

folio (315 x 210mm.), woodcut printer's device on title-page and on final verso, woodcut armorial at end of preliminaries, large folding woodcut map of Scandinavia, woodcut initials and illustrations, contemporary Polish blind-stamped calf over wooden boards (pastedowns with watermark of a bear, Briquet 12294, dated to the region of Poznan, 1562-1570), two clasps, light staining and foxing throughout, binding slightly stained, corners rubbed

Magnus's comprehensive account of the Scandinavian lands and peoples was first printed in Rome in 1555, where he and his brother Johannes spent the years 1530 to 1557 in exile, as Catholic archbishops from a Protestant land. While numerous abridgements were produced in subsequent years, this volume contains the complete text with woodcuts based on the Rome edition. The content is a wonderful mix of fact and fiction, knowledge and fantasy, and influenced western Europe's view of Scandinavia for centuries.

LITERATURE

VD16 M 225

PROVENANCE

Joannes Kunzelius, pastor of the church of Neosolium (Banská Bystrica), presentation inscription from his friend Joannes Dreyling, counsellor to Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria, dated Innsbruck, 9 June 1570; Stephan [Istvan] Bosytz, inscription on title-page dated 1683 (Bosytz was a printer in Kassa/Košice in the 1680s); traces of a purple stamp on flyleaf and title-page