Boethius; Isidor von Sevilla Cartography

BOETHIUS - De consolatione Philosphiae. Cum editione commentaria beati Thome de Aquino ordinis praedicatorum; [Bound with,] ISIDOR - LIBER ETHIMILOGIARUM. Jsidori Hyspalensis epi(scopi). [Bound With] ISIDOR Hispalensis - DE SUMMO BONO

      Basel [and] Nuremberg [and] Venedig M. Furter [and] Anton Koberger [and] Perrum loslein de Langencen 1489, 1486, 1483 - Very early printings of each of the classic works. Probably one of the very earliest printings of each volume now attainable. A copy from the Koberger workshop and a copy with extensive and very interesting contemporary marginalia. Illustrated with the famous world map, the full page illustrated plate, and two other early illustrations in the text, rubricated throughout in red and blue in an expert and highly accomplished hand. Folio, most likely, according to expert opinion, a Koberger binding of contemporary German pigskin over wooden boards, beautifully blind tooled with exact tooling in overall decoration of each cover and spine in Renaissance design, with brass corner pieces, bosses and clasps. A beautiful, very well preserved and very handsome copy, one central boss lacking, a very fine, crisp, clean and handsome copy throughout, text-blocks and all illustrations in excellent condition. A BEAUTIFUL VOLUME AND A SUPERB EDITION. Concerning the Boethius, DE CONSOLATIONE was the most famous of BoethiusÕ works and was written while he was in prison on false charges. "De Consolatione" is described by Gibbon as "Ôa golden volume, not unworthy of the leisure of Plato or Tully, but which claims incomparable merit from the barbarism of the times and the situation of the author.Õ" [Ency Brit]. The text is arranged in five books and the style is both prose and verse. As Plato argued before him, Boethius claims that contrary to appearances, "vice is never unpunished nor virtue unrewarded." [Ency Brit] He claims as his own sources: Plato, Aristotle, Nicomachos, Ptolemy and Albinus. He was a statesman as well as a philosopher, and was appointed Consul in Rome under Theodorie the Ostrogoth in 510. Because he was eventually put to death, he was soon characterized as a martyr for the Christian cause. Later, BoethiusÕ work was greatly instrumental in bringing back a focus on Plato and Aristotle and it was highly esteemed throughout the Middle Ages. Alfred the Great translated it into Anglo-Saxon and Chaucer turned it into English, while before the end of tghe eighteenth century versions had appeared in French, Italian, Spanish, German and Greek. The commentary is ascribed in the text to Thomas Aquinas. Concerning ÔIsidorÕs LIBER ETHIMILOGIARUM, the ÒEtymologiaeÓ presents in abbreviated form much of that part of the learning of antiquity that Christians thought worth preserving. Isidore's vast encyclopedia systematizing ancient learning includes subjects from theology to furniture and provided a rich source of classical lore and learning for medieval writers. In all, Isidore quotes from 154 authors, both Christian and pagan. Many of the Christian authors he read in the originals; of the pagans, many he consulted in current compilations. Bishop Braulio, to whom Isidore dedicated it and sent it for correction, divided it into its twenty books. Through the Middle Ages The ÒEtymologiaeÓ was the textbook most in use, regarded so highly as a depository of classical learning that, in a great measure, it superseded the use of the individual works of the classics themselves, full texts of which were no longer copied and thus were lost. The book was not only one of the most popular compendia in medieval libraries but was printed in at least ten editions between 1470 and 1530, showing Isidore's continued popularity in the Renaissance, rivalling Vincent of Beauvais. A stylized map based on ÒEtymologiaeÓnent Asia is peopled by descendants of Sem or Shem, Africa by descendants of Ham and Europe by descendants of Japheth, the sons of Noah. This map reflects Isidore's sixth century view; we now know that, although undoubtedly widely read, Isidore was n [Attributes: Hard Cover]