Braun, Georg; Frans Hogenberg and Simon van den Neuwel. Civitates Orbis Terrarum. Five volumes. Cologne: Bertram Buchholtz, 1599–1597–1606– [1599]–ca. 1600.

[Braun, Georg; Frans Hogenberg and Simon van den Neuwel.] Civitates Orbis Terrarum. Five volumes. Cologne: Bertram Buchholtz, 1599–1597–1606– [1599]–ca. 1600. Folio (15 11/16” x 11 1/16”, 398mm x 280mm). [Full collation available.]

WITH EXCEPTIONAL CONTEMPORARY COLOR

Collated complete, except for II.4(?)2 blank, IV.π1 (part 4 title-page) and IV.2π2 blank. Bound in contemporary calf with the “standard Civitates binding” offered by Hogenberg, tooled gilt originally but now mostly rubbed to blind. On the spine, five raised bands with triple blind fillets above and below. Title gilt to the second panel, number gilt to the third. All edges of the text-block glazed red. Each volume presented in an archival phase box. Lacking the part 4 title-page and two blanks. Conserved in October 2021 by James and Stuart Brockman (full report available). The following ten plates have been supplied from other copies: I.8 (Montpellier), I.9 (Rouen), I.35 (Frankfurt); II.24 (Dordrecht); III.4 (Edinburgh), III.36 (Leeuwarden), III.37 (Soest and Warburg), III.38 (Frankenberg), III.44 (Zurich); IV.32 (Bad Segeberg). Some foxing to the preliminaries. Ink marginalia in an old (XVIIc?) hand in Spanish throughout, with concentrations to the Spanish views of vol. I (41 r , Granada; 51 r , Barcelona) and to the preliminaries of vol. V. Contemporary coloring throughout, with fine gilding to the title-pages. [See above for a discussion of Braun & Hogenberg.] The Spanish owner of the present set, perhaps from Barcelona given the volume of the annotations to its plate-text (I.5), was in a position to correct or to add information; there are no citations, so perhaps his comments are from his own experience. Whereas the fate of the Civitates is often the framer’s knife, having the set with early marginalia shows that the volumes were used as windows onto the development of the early modern city. Van der Kroegt/Koeman IV.1: 41:1.1(1599), .2(1597), .3(1606), .4([1559])B, .5(1600).