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REISCH, Gregor (1467-1525). Margarita philosophica . Basel: Sebastian Henricpetri, 1583.
REISCH, Gregor (1467-1525). Margarita philosophica . Basel: Sebastian Henricpetri, 1583. 4° (213 x 163mm). One engraved plate and one engraved cordiform map of the world after Gemma Frisius and Peter Apian, both folding, woodcut illustrations, 36 full-page, printer’s device to verso of colophon. (Some soiling and dampstaining, scattered spotting, repairs to a number of leaves, folding plates with repairs and tear to margins.) Contemporary vellum, gilt title to spine (endpapers renewed). Provenance : contemporary annotations throughout -- ‘Paulus Bonavisa Aud[it]or Dom[in]us’ (inscription on title). First published in 1503, Reisch's encyclopaedic work takes the form of a dialogue between master and disciple, and covers a multitude of subjects among which are astronomy, music, geometry, rhetoric, and alchemy; it remained popular throughout the 16th century. ‘The work is a sort of hand-book or encyclopaedia of natural and moral philosophy, presented in dialogue form and illustrated with a large number of woodcuts’ (Sabin). It contains 'the oldest printed illustration of the structure of the eye' (Choulant-Frank pp. 80 and 126). The preface, dated 1523, is attributed to Oronce Finé (1494-1555). Adams R-338; Brunet IV, 1201; Graesse IV, 74: édition la plus complète'; Sabin 69131.