Travel, Atlases, Maps and Natural History

Travel, Atlases, Maps and Natural History

View full screen - View 1 of Lot 182. Gilles | De topographia Constantinopoleos, Lyon, 1562, contemporary calf gilt with arms of Boncompagni.

GREECE AND THE LEVANT, A PRIVATE LIBRARY, LOTS 157-213

Gilles | De topographia Constantinopoleos, Lyon, 1562, contemporary calf gilt with arms of Boncompagni

Auction Closed

November 12, 04:34 PM GMT

Estimate

1,500 - 2,000 GBP

Lot Details

Description

GREECE AND THE LEVANT, A PRIVATE LIBRARY, LOTS 157-213


GILLES, PIERRE

Two works on Constantinople and the Bosphorus in a fine armorial binding, comprising:


De topographia Costantinopoleos, et de illius antiquitatibus libri quatuor. Lyon: Guillaume Rouillé, 1562, woodcut device on title-page, with final blank leaf

De bosporo Thracio libri III. Lyon: Guillaume Rouillé, 1561, woodcut device on title-page

2 works in one volume, 4to (235 x 157mm.), woodcut initials, head- and tailpieces, contemporary Italian calf gilt with the Boncompagni arms, spine with gilt lettering, gilt edges, stubs of two pairs of red silk ties, some quires

browned, binding rubbed, a few small wormholes in spine


Pierre Gilles visited Constantinople in 1544 in search of Greek manuscripts, as part of the close relations between the courts of Francis I and Suleyman the Magnificent. In this work he set out to describe the antiquities of the city of Constantinople, which he saw being eroded by the current inhabitants, and this included the siting of the monuments within the topography of the city. He stated that the Byzantine city was disappearing fast, and that sometimes he even watched it happen. As such, his work forms an important source regarding monuments that no longer survive.


The second work is on the Bosphorus and the voyage of the Argonauts, and is considered the first work on the subject. Both works were published posthumously in 1561 and quickly reissued in 1562.


A binding with the identical Boncompagni armorial was on a copy of Orsini's Familiae Romanae (Rome, 1577), formerly in the Michel Wittock collection. Most of Boncompagni's books were in Roman bindings.


LITERATURE:

USTC 153262 & 153071; von Gültlingen, Rouillé 519 & 561; Atabey 496 (1561 edition), 495; Blackmer 685, 684


PROVENANCE:

Giacomo Boncompagni, duke of Sora (1548-1612), arms on binding (see Hobson & Culot, Italian and French 16th-century bookbindings, no.21), later ink stamp on title-page and old shelfmark G.III.35