Books and Manuscripts

The Heretical Ptolemy World Atlas

Lugduni (Lyons): Melchioris et Gasparis Trechsel fratrum, 1535. First Servetus edition. Folio. Comprising 149 pp. of text, 50 maps with accompanying text, 70 pp. index, and 6 pp. of tables and errata at rear. Edited by Michael Villanovanus (Servetus). Translated into Latin by Wilibald Pirckheimer. Illustrated with a woodcut device on general title-page as well as title-page of index; decorated woodcut initials, running headlines, and four in-text diagrams; 49 double-page maps (27 depicting the ancient world, 22 of the modern world) and one single-page map of Lotharingia (verso of map 46), most maps with text on versos enclosed in elaborate woodcut borders (attributed to Hans Holbein and Graf of Basle); two full-page woodcut diagrams by Albrecht Durer on pp. 128 and 129, including one of an armillary sphere. Bound in period antiphonal leaf in manuscript of red, blue, and black, covers unevenly toned, soiling to same, front board slightly bowed, a few small tears in upper spine, corners worn; endpapers renewed, ownership signature on front free endpaper and rear paste-down, dated 1969; old catalogue description mounted on front paste-down, remnants from now-removed book-plate on same; contemporary ownership signature on title-page (crossed out in a contemporary scrawl), small ink stamp at bottom of same: "Bibliotheque Geographique Hachette & Cie"; foxing and dampstaining on title-page, small portion of top corner of same repaired; foxing to prelims; dampstaining in top and bottom corners of all text leaves; gutter at pp. 12 and 13 repaired; scattered light to moderate foxing to text and plates; repaired worming in bottom edge of pp. 125-(150); recto gutter of first map repaired with vellum waste-paper; scattered repaired short closed tears in edges. Sabin 66483; Phillips Atlases 364

A rare copy of this Ptolemy world atlas, the first edition edited by Spanish theologian and physician Michael Servetus (ca. 1509/11-53). The publication of this edition would contribute to Servetus's burning at the stake by Calvinists 13 years later for its deemed heretical content. Born in Spain, Servetus studied medicine in Paris and became a respected physician, and was the first physician in Europe to describe pulmonary circulation. By 1535 he was already considered a heretic for his writings against the Holy Trinity (hence the use of a pseudonym here "Villanovanus") and, after running afoul of John Calvin in the ensuing years, he was arrested in Geneva in 1553 and sentenced to death. Of the many counts of heresy brought against him, one was related to a passage within this volume that stated that the Holy Land was not as fertile as was commonly believed, calling it “inhospitable and barren land." This statement, which appears on the text leaf accompanying map 41, was considered blasphemous. However, it was not written by Servetus, as it had also appeared in the 1522 and 1525 editions of this atlas, and was copied by him. The second edition of this atlas by Servetus, published in 1541, pointedly omitted the controversial statement. Nonetheless, during his trial from August to October, 1553, this statement along with his anti-trinitarian and baptism writings were used as evidence against him, and he was burned alive with his books, including many copies of this edition.

This atlas features 50 fantastic maps of Europe, Africa, and Asia, and includes some related to America and the New World. Most importantly is number 50, "Tabula Totius Orbis", a world map by Lorenz Fries, first used in his edition of 1522, which is the first map in an edition of Ptolemy with the name "America."