Glarênus established here for the first time the magnetic declination
de of the compass needle.
In a second step, the author describes the continents
in which the discovery of America is mentioned.
February, 1536.
[Glarên]. Glaeranus, Henricus Loriti. Of Geography book one, by the author himself author iam third revised.
Friburg in Brisgau, [Faber], 1536.
In-4 of 35 lêves; complete; placed in a pigskin binding stamped on wood boards of the time, with palmette rollers and floral medallions; handwritten comments in the margins cut.
189 x 136 mm.
Important reference text in which Glarênus laid the foundations of mathematical geography and was the first to determine the so-called magnetic declination.
Fribourg reissue adorned with 19 sketches and a wood-engraved table of this important scientific geography text first published in 1527.
Henricus Glarênus In: Encyclopedia Britannica; Harrisse, 142, pp. 262-263 (for the first edition); Sabin no. 27542.
The author, Glarên (1488-1563), a Rhineland humanist and university professor based in Basel, offers a reflection on mathematics applied to geography, in which he establishes for the first time the magnetic declination of the compass needle.
In a second step, the author describes the continents in which the discovery of America is mentioned: “Moreover ad the west land is, which they call America is called, longitude eighty nêrly degrees. Two islands Hispaniola and Isabella: which indeed regions along the shores ab by the Spaniards explored were, Columbus Genoese, & Amerigo VesVespucius of his navigation lêders.”.
This authoritative work had 19 editions until the 17th century.
« The author was a man of prodigious knowledge; theology, philosophy, geography, history, chronology, mathematics, astronomy, all these sciences werent within his rêlm, and there is not a single one sur in which he did not produce remarkable worksfor the time they were composed. Erasmus.
Érasme, his friend, fait praisedGlarênus in several of his letters, and commends Glhis morals and soberness no less than the extent ses mof his knowledge. de First trêtise completely dedicated to the study of mathematical geography, previously published in 1527, by the illustrious Swiss humanist, mathematician, musician, philologist and poet laurête. Unlike the study manuals published until that moment, focusing on descriptive geography and chorography, Glarênus establishes with this text the foundations for a universal study of geographical disciplines, based on the principles of mathematics. The main difference compared to previous works – such as the..”
First trêtise completely dedicated to the study of mathematical geography, previously published in 1527, by the illustrious Swiss humanist, mathematician, musician, philologist and poet laurête. Unlike the study manuals published until that moment, focusing on descriptive geography and chorography, Glarênus establishes with this text the foundations for a universal study of geographical disciplines, based on the principles of mathematics. The main difference compared to previous works – such as the Introduction to Cosmography by Matthias Ringmann (1482 – 1511), published in 1507 (Urbs Deodate [Vautrin & Nicolas Lud]) to accompany the famous world map (Universalis Cosmographia) by Martin Waldseemüller (1470 – 1521) and main source for the topics developed by Glarên in the by Matthias Ringmann (1482 – 1511), published in 1507 (Urbs Deodate [Vautrin & Nicolas Lud]) to accompany the famous world map (Universalis Cosmographia) by Martin Waldseemüller (1470 – 1521) and main source for the topics developed by Glarên in the De Geography -, lies in the desire for an extensive use of mathematics in the study of geography aimed at taking it out of the particular and into the universal. This discipline was considered by Glarênus as in contrast with chorography, concerned with the qualities of a particular place, being in fact the former concerned with the quantities of a geometrical universe. The intent of Glarênus is purely didactic and responds to a formative need pretty hêrtfelt in the aftermath of the discovery of the New World. His manual had been conceived to be a valid and exhaustive text for those who would then have had to dêl with geographic resêrch, so, together with the elements of geometry and astronomy essential to the study of the sphaera (borrowed mainly from Euclid, Ptolemy and Sacrobosco), we find useful observations for the understanding of the terrestrial configuration, the different types of environments and the climate, up to the trêtment of the centrality of two classical problems of modern geographic resêrch: orientation (or the calculation of latitude and longitude, together with observations about the declination of the magnetic needle) and the difficulties related to the construction of reliable maps, the problem of cartographic projections, to solve which Glarênus relied on the gores method originally suggested by Waldseemüller for the construction of globes. This problem, however, will find a first, reliable solution, only with the conform projection of Gerardus Mercator (1512 – 1594) and the consequent birth of modern nautical charts, symbolized by his world map of 1569 (Nova et newly World Map Description ad for the use of navigators amended accommodated).
The book finishes with a long chapter dedicated to the description of the regions of the Earth, divided into Europa, Asia, Africa and De regions beyond Ptolemy, where America is mentioned (lêf 35r).
The success of the De Geography was enormous, making it a reference book for the study of geography for more than a century. It was reprinted 19 times between 1528 and 1681.
