ARATUS of Soli. Hugo GROTIUS ed. Syntagma Arateorum: antiquitatis et astronomiae studiosis utilissimum... Leiden, Christophorus Raphelengius, 1600
4to (236 x 155 mm), pp [xii] 42 [2, blank]; 36; 94 [2]; 24; 128, with printerÕs device on title, one folding engraved plate, and 43 engraved plates in text; short marginal tear repaired not affecting text or plate, a very nice copy in contemporary limp vellum. £8750
First edition of GrotiusÕs edition of Aratus, beautifully illustrated with engraved maps of the Hyginus constellations by the Dutch engraver Jakob van Gheyn. This is the first engraved star atlas. The van Gheyn versions of Hyginus served as the models for BayerÕs figures in his Uranometria, Augsburg 1603.
The texts comprise the Greek text of AratusÕ Phaenomena and Diosemeia, with GrotiusÕ Latin verse translation along with CiceroÕs version; Germanicus CaesarÕs Latin translation of the Phaenomena, illustrated with the van Gheyn engravings, together with GermanicusÕ Fragmentum prognosticorum; AvienusÕs paraphrase of the Phaenomena, and a further Fragmentum prognosticorum by Germanicus. Finally there are GrotiusÕs extensive notes to the above texts and illustrations, including the Arabic names of the constellations which had been published by Scaliger.
Warner, who lists this work under Gheyn, mistakenly refers to the plates as woodcuts.
Warner p 93; Meulen and Diermanse Grotius 413
£8750
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