GIRALDI, Lilio Gregorio.

£2,000 · Offered by Peter Harrington · No longer available

De re nautica libellus, admiranda quadam & recondita eruditione refertus, nunc primum & natus & aeditus. First edition of one of the earliest printed treatises on ancient seafaring, including an early reference to the American discovery and the role played by Italian pilots sailing on Spanish and Portuguese ships. Printed in Basel, the work is bound in a handsome contemporary German blind-stamped binding.The discovery of an ancient Roman ship laying at the bottom of lake Nemi (south of Rome) in the late 15th century marked the beginning of modern studies into the archaeology of seafaring. Giraldi's De re nautica libellus ("A small book on navigation") is concerned with Greek and Roman shipbuilding and navigation, discussing the types of ships that were in use, their shapes, parts (mentioned with both Greek and Latin names), construction and decoration methods. The treatise also describes the equipment they carried, such as oars and ropes, and includes a list of common nautical terms in Latin. Giraldi draws his information from classical authors, including Homer, Aristotle, Aristophanes, Erodotus, Tucidides, Cicero, Horace, Ovid, Lucretius, Livy, Pliny, and Vitruvius. He mentions the Nemi ship, quoting Leon Battista Alberti. Giraldi's work was preceded only by Lazare de Baïf's De re navali (1536) and a couple of other texts preserved only in manuscript. The contents were later among the sources consulted by Pirro Ligorio for his naval treatise Libro delle navi, appearing in Bo

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