All the Cities of the Old World

[Pierre Tavlitzki]

I already discussed in this group the Nuremberg Chronicles. This extraordinary illustrated book published in 1493 claimed to include all the knowledge of the world. It was too ambitious and some diversification was necessary!

In 1570 another editorial project started: under the title Theatrum orbis terrarum, Ortelius published the first modern atlas, showing the geography of the globe into 53 maps.

In 1572, a canon of Cologne named Georg Braun began the publication of a book showing the plan and the appearance of many cities. The title, Civitates orbis terrarum, assesses that this project was designed to complement the work of Ortelius. Many plates have been engraved by Hogenberg, who had also worked for Ortelius.

Braun's work includes 6 volumes, the last one having been published in 1617. 546 images show the plans and bird's eye views of 480 cities, especially in Europe, of course, but also Palestine and Russia. Local peculiarities, including dress, are also illustrated.

Reiss is auctioning in Königstein on October 28 a copy of Braun's book. It is a composite copy assembled and bound in three volumes in the early eighteenth century, and colors have not aged well. For this reason, we consider the estimate of 260 K€ as ambitious, but the interest of this book is considerable.

Wikipedia illustrates his article with the bird's eye view of Zurich.

[Pierre Tavlitzki]

This composite copy of an important milestone in the history of books was sold 230 K € excl. This result below the estimate is consistent with the commentary at the end of my article.