Magnus, Olaus | A reference on Scandinavia until the end of the 16th century

Magnus, Olaus

Historia Olai Magni Gothi archiepiscopi Upsalensis de gentium septentrionalum uariis conditionibus...photo cont... Basil: Ex Officina Henric Petrina, s.d. [1567]

Thick folio (293 x 203 mm); collation: 🜨⁶ ++⁶ ą-Ɛ⁶ a-z⁶ A-Z⁶ Aa-Zz⁶ AA⁶ BB⁸. Woodcut printer's device to title, woodcut initials and vignettes, folding map of Scandanavia; contemporary and early annotations to title, skillful repairs to margins of a few leaves, expert repair to map with some facsimile, Bb5 with long closed tear repaired costing catchword, occasional and primarily marginal dampstaining, other instances of scattered staining and foxing. Navy pebble-grained morocco bound by Neumann, covers with double gilt rules and filagree cornerpieces, spine with raised bands in six compartments, second gilt-lettered, other with repeat filagree motif in gilt, all edges gilt, inner dentelles gilt, marbled endpapers; rubbed, with corners bumped.

Magnus's comprehensive account of the Scandinavian lands and peoples was first printed in Rome in 1555, where he and his brother Johannes spent the years 1530 to 1557 in exile, as Catholic archbishops from a Protestant land. While numerous abridgements were produced in subsequent years, this volume contains the complete text with woodcuts based on the Rome edition. The content is a wonderful mix of fact and fiction, knowledge and fantasy, and influenced western Europe's view of Scandinavia for centuries.

PROVENANCE:

Charles F. Cox (bookplate to front pastedown) — University of Edinburgh Library (deaccession stamp to penultimate leaf)