Piccolomini, Alessandro

4to (203 x 152mm.), woodcut title vignette, repeated on second title, 47 full-page woodcut star maps (misnumbered 48, skipping "24"and "43" and duplicating "48"), woodcut text diagrams and historiated initials, contemporary inscription on title "ad usum Joannis Antonii et magistri... scholarum piarum", contemporary limp vellum, half morocco slipcase

Ibid. De la sfera del mondo... delle stelle fisse. Venice: Nicolo Bevilacqua, 1561, 4to (210 x 150mm.), woodcut printer's device on title, repeated on last page, 47 full-page woodcut star maps (misnumbered "48"), woodcut text diagrams, Francesco Federighi (seventeenth-century manuscript exlibris on front free endpaper), modern limp vellum, marginal worming in title and following 3 leaves, some light marginal spotting and soiling 

Condition is described in the main body of the cataloguing, where appropriate
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Two editions of Alessandro Piccolomini's De la sfera del mondo "the first printed star atlas... [and] the first printed set of maps of the stars, as distinct from simple pictures of the constellations" (Warner, The Sky Explored p.200). These xylographic star maps used Latin letters to distinguish stars of the first four magnitudes. This method was adopted by French constructors of celestial globes in the later sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.