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Description

With Bünting's Clover Leaf World, Pegasus as Asia, Europe as a Queen, and Africa.

Small quarto (12.5 x 8 inches). Very attractive contemporary blindstamped pigskin over wooden boards, contemporary metal clasps with images of the Crucifixion (leather renewed). 2 books in 1 volume. First book (Itinerarium...): 4 parts in 1. 12 (10 double-page) woodcut maps. Collation: 8 leaves, 250 (recto 252) pages, 4; 3 pages, 110 pages, 4 pages; 34 (recto 35) pages; 3 leaves, 23 (recto 25) pages. Second book (Harmonia...): 3 parts in 1. Collation: 29 pages, 180 pages, 5 leaves; 2 pages, 51 pages, 2; 2 leaves, 487 (recto 490) pages, 7 leaves.

Early German edition of Bünting's Itinerarium illustrated with 12 (10 double-page) woodcut maps and plans: 2 world maps (including the famous clover-leaf map), Europe as Virgin, Asia as Pegasus, Africa, 4 maps of the Holy Land, map of the Eastern Mediterranean and plans of Jerusalem and the temple. Bound with the first edition of the Gospel Harmony in the arrangement by Bünting.

Overall a very nice copy in a contemporary binding, unrestored, of a book often found in very worn condition.

Condition Description
Some browning, stronger in places, some marginal waterstaining. Occasional small marginal tears, first title reinforced. Here and there underlinings and annotations, only in the second work a few pages with extensive and crossed out ink notes. Split to centerfold of map of "Cosmographia Universalis", one of the Holy Land maps with underlinings in red ink. Somewhat rubbed and browned, few wormholes, flaw to upper outer corner of front cover.
Reference
I. VD 16, B 9172; IA 127.711; Tobler 209; van der Heijden, Bünting (in: Cartogr. Helvetica 23), Laor 140-143, Zacharakis 501, Hill, Curiosities 46 and 47 and Tooley, Oddities 2, 3, 88.
II. VD 16, B 4667; IA. 127.711.
Heinrich Bunting Biography

Henrich Bunting was a Protestant theologian and teacher born in Hanover, in what is now Germany. He attended the University of Wittenberg and graduated in 1569. He then began work as a preacher but caused some controversy with his teachings; he was dismissed from appointments in both Lemgo and Goslar.

He is best known today for his book, Itinerarium Sacrae Scripturae (Travel book through Holy Scripture), a travel collection and commentary of the geography of the Bible. The book provided the most complete summary of biblical geography then available and described the Holy Land by following the travels of various notable people from the Old and New Testaments. First published in Madgeburg in 1581, Itinerarium Sacrae Scripturae was a very popular book for the time. Over 60 editions were published between 1581 and 1757.  

A particularly notable feature of the book were its many woodcut maps, many of them showing unique depictions of geographic features and continents. In addition to the conventional maps, the book also contained three figurative maps; the world depicted using a cloverleaf design (thought to possibly represent the Trinity with Jerusalem in the center), Europe in the form of a crowned and robed woman, and Asia as the winged horse Pegasus.