MALLET, ALAIN MANESSON.
Beschreibung des gantzen Welt-Kreises. Vierter Theil: Welcher in sich enthält Das Alte und Neue Europa. (Vol. 4 out of a total of 5).
Franckfurt am Mayn, Zunner, 1685.
4to. In contemporary half calf. Traces from old paper-label to spine. Binding with considerable wear. Back board broken but still attached. Inner hinges split. Frontispiece partly detached. Previous owner's name in contemporary hand to spine. With a few occassional brownspots and tears in margin, but internally generally nice and clean. (8), 210, (14) pp. + 128 engraved plates and 1 frontispiece. (plates are numbered consecutively from 1 - 130. Plate no. 90 and 92 are missing, but collation corresponds to the digitalized copy in Regensburg, Staatliche Bibliothek, OCLC Accession No: 930342403 and the Otto Leopold Schmidt-copy, sold at Bonham in 2020).
First German translation (vol. 4 only) of Mallet’s lavishly illustrated ambitious guide to Europe, offering geographical and cultural knowledge to a broader audience in part because of the numerous and detailed engravings. Mallet's maps and illustrations are not only geographically informative but also a fine example of the baroque style of the period. It has been suggested that his background as a teacher led to him being concerned with entertaining his readers. This concern manifested itself in these charming illustrations which include maps, cityscapes, and depictions of various cultural practices and costumes. The first edition appeared in Paris in 1683 as "Description de l'univers," and soon after the hundreds of copper plates for the illustrations were transferred to Jan David Zunner in Frankfurt, who published the first edition of the German translation in 1684, with German text engraved in the plates. He then published the second French edition in 1685, with the German text still in the plates. Alain Manesson Mallet (1630–1706) was a French cartographer and engineer primarily known for his significant contributions to cartography, particularly through the present work. He began his career as a soldier in the army of Louis XIV, eventually rising to the rank of Sergeant-Major in the artillery and serving as an Inspector of Fortifications. Mallet also served under the King of Portugal before returning to France where he was appointed to the court of Louis XIV. His expertise in military engineering and mathematics earned him a position teaching mathematics at the royal court. (For the original in French see: Brunet III, 1343 and Sabin 44130 and Graesse IV, 354).
Order-nr.: 61394
DKK 20.000,00