First edition: Collates: π⁶ A–N⁶ O⁴ last leaf blank, title within an elegant historiated woodcut border enclosing the letterpress text with a woodcut central printer's device, light water staining at the bottom corners of A and L⁶ O⁴, otherwise the contents are crisp and bright, twentieth century quarter brown calf with a gilt title label and marbled paper sides which are rubbed around the edges, a very good copy.
Translated the colophon reads: 'Concerning the Customs of All Nations. All the more memorable customs and rites of men are explained here with such great diligence and such great skill as to be recognized as never having been treated before by anyone prior to him. From a careful gleaning he has made a vintage, and from a gathering of ears of grain a harvest, producing a book no less juicy than it is pleasant, and no less pleasant than it is useful and thoroughly necessary; so much so, that unless he who studies humanity knows the things declared herein about mankind, he would stray further from his purpose than a carpenter who remains ignorant of the nature or condition of the material in which he works. Therefore, O humane reader of human affairs, look upon these affairs of men, read them, and when you experience how much utility and how much instruction for human life is contained within them, give immortal thanks to our Boemus and to the printer, cherish them, and love me. From Gundelfingen in Swabia. April 6th, in the year from the health-bringing birth of the Virgin, 1520.
Printed at Augsburg in the workshop of Sigismund Grimm, physician, and Marx Wirsung. In the year of the Virgin's birth, 1520, in the month of July.
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Böhm_(Humanist) Johannes Boemus (c. 1485 – 1535), also known as Johann Böhm or Bohemus Aubanus, was a prominent German Renaissance humanist, priest, traveler, and Hebraist. He is widely recognised for compiling the first systematic ethnographic work of the early modern period. It is divided into three distinct books, mapping out the three known continents of the Ancient World: Book I (Africa), Book II (Asia), and Book III (Europe). It became a bestseller across Europe, remaining a standard authoritative text for over a century. It was printed in dozens of editions and heavily influenced subsequent milestone works, such as Sebastian Münster’s Cosmography and Sebastian Franck’s Hauptchronik. (Sabin 6117 and USTC 690593)
- Overall Condition: Very good
- Size: Folio (approx. 320 x 210 mm)
