Lot pagina - Van De Wiele Auctions

[De Somnio Scipionis] En tibi lector candidissime Macrobius, qui antea mancus, mutilus, ac lacer circumferebatur, nunc primum integer, nitidus & suo nitori restitutus in quo Graecae maiestatis dignitas quo ad eius fieri potuit superstes reperitur

Venice
per Agostino Zani ad instantia Lucantonio I Giunta
1513

In-folio, [4] - CXXII ff, title entirely printed in red. Illustrated with several woodcuts and diagrams in text, one of which is the famous WOODCUT WORLD MAP (on f. 29). Missing folios 1 & 8 are replaced by an old manuscript. Beautiful woodcut initials on black background. Old underlinings and annotations. Pale waterstains in the corners of the last lvs. Bound in half leather, red edges

"Ref. B.M. Italian Books 401 ; Shirley nr.13. This work, written by Ambrosius Macrobius, is a commentary on Cicero's ""Dream of Scipio"". It includes a rare woodcut map of the world illustrating Cicero's interesting theories. Macrobius depicted the world divided into five distinct climate zones; northern frigid zone, northern temperate zone (most of Europe and Asia), an uninhabited equatorial zone which includes a 'boiling sea' (Alveus Oceani), a temperate southern zone and finally a frigid southern zone. Macrobius was a 5th century Roman Neoplatonic philosopher. His commentary included an exploration of the nature of dreams based on Greek dream-theory. It became the foundation of much early medieval dream-theory. The commentary on Cicero's Somnium Sciponis was of great influence in the Middle Ages and gained popularity with the advent of printing"

Humanism

MACROBIUS, Ambrosius Aurelius Theodosius