DIONYSIUS PERIEGETES; MELA, Pomponius; SOLINUS, Gaius Iulius; AETHICUS.

A very good, unsophisticated copy, in contemporary binding and with interesting early annotations, of this very handsome student collection of ancient geography textbooks and commentaries. De situ orbis by Dionysius Periegetes, he lived in Alexandria in the 2.nd. or 3.rd. century AD, was a popular geographical poem on the boundaries of the known world. Pomponius Mela s (1.st. cent. AD) De situ orbis described in prose the then-known world, dividing it into 5 zones, only two of which he deemed inhabitable. Solinus De mirabilibus mundi -a compendium of the ancient wonders of the world- was a favourite for teaching, especially the chapter on the peoples of remote countries. The collection also includes scholia (commentaries) by the humanists Morel and Papia, some concerning Aethicus Cosmographia , now considered a medieval forgery.

This copy was owned by a university student or scholar, who covered in dense ms annotations the margins of the first three chapters of Mela s De situ - on the four parts of the world, and the descriptions of Asia and Europe - adding a few blanks for further notes. The annotations are at times summaries of the text, but mostly provide personal observations and integral information. For instance, the annotator refers to the version of the text found in a Codex Parisiensis et manuscriptus , most likely one of the many precious mss of classical works preserved at the Royal Library. He noted information about the author, and provided numerous additional information based on Pliny, Strabo, Ptolemy and other ancient authorities, with reference to specific peoples (e.g., Iberii) and places (e.g., Caspian Sea). Further occasional marginalia show his knowledge of other editions, e.g., by J. Vadianus, and his interest in the etymology of Britannia , which our annotator glossed with an additional, quite obscure etymology, as a name made of two Hebrew nouns, translated as stanum (tin) and agrum (field) in Latin. An interesting, unsophiticated copy.