Apr 21, 2009 - Sale 2176

Sale 2176 - Lot 82

Price Realized: $ 1,440
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 800 - $ 1,200
PRE-COLUMBIAN "DISCOVERIES" ZENO, NICCOLÒ, the Younger. Dei Commentarii del Viaggio in Persia . . . Libri Duo. Et dello Scoprimento dell'Isole Frislanda, Eslanda, EngroVelanda, Estotilanda, et Icaria, fatto sotto il Polo Artico. 58 leaves; lacks the map. Small 8vo, old vellum with calligraphic title in ink on spine; scattered minor spotting, light soiling on title; institutional bookplate (with release stamp). Venice: Francesco Marcolini, 1558
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Additional Details

first edition of a book describing the late 15th-century diplomatic mission to Persia by Caterino Zeno and the late 14th-century voyage across the North Atlantic purportedly made by Niccolò and Antonio Zeno. The spurious pre-Columbian exploration narrative and its accompanying map (missing from this copy) "had a great and evil influence upon the cartography of a whole century or more, introducing two new islands (Estotiland and Drogio), shifting others widely into new positions, etc." (Sarton). Alden 558/44; Church 110; Sarton III, 1593-94; Schwartz & Ehrenberg, page 63.