Herberstein, Sigismund von (1486-1566).

Estimate

1,500 - 2,500 GBP

bidding is closed

Description

Rerum Moscouiticarum commentarij Sigismundi. Basel: [Joannes] Oporinus, March 1571

folio (340 x 211mm.), [12], 227, [21]pp., illustration: 2 double-page woodcut maps, one double-page woodcut city plan, 8 woodcut text illustrations, woodcut initials, binding: seventeenth-century calf, gilt centrepiece, spine in compartments gilt, staining to upper corner of pages, a few small tears not affecting text, light spotting, binding worn and chipped at base of spine

Provenance

Nicolas Joseph Foucault (1643-1721), bookplate, inscription on pastedown "Emptus 4ff 17 Mart. 1688"

Literature

Adams H302; VD16 H2204

Catalogue Note

Rerum moscoviticarum commentarii was the first detailed eyewitness ethnography of Russia. First published in 1549, it became the main source of knowledge in Western Europe on Russia. Herberstein acquired a knowledge of Slovenian in his youth which inspired and facilitated his research into Russia and the Russians. He was twice Austrian ambassador to Russia and probably began work on his encyclopaedic account of Russian life before 1520, and was to continue expanding and refining it for the next two decades. Herberstein conducted countless interviews, apparently carefully corroborating whatever information he gleaned, as well as critically scrutinizing all extant literature on Russia.