BOEMUS, Johann.

by Johann Boemus

£1,650 · Offered by Sokol Books

Attractive copy of the Italian translation of this bestseller on ethnography by Johann Boemus, including a fascinating addition on the New World by the Italian Girolamo Giglio. First published in 1520 and counting almost fifty editions over the course of the 16th century, Boemus’ work was translated, adapted and even plagiarised several times in many European languages. This Italian translation was made by the Venetian Lucio Fauno – pseudonym of the humanist Giovanni Tarcagnota (c. 1508-1566) – and first printed in 1542, while Giglio’s fourth book on the Americas appeared for the first time printed by Giglio himself in 1558. Born in Aub (Lower Franconia) and chaplain of the Teutonic Order – hence the epithet of ‘Aubanus Teutonicus’ – Hans Böhm or Johann Boemus (c.1485-1535) was a German humanist, poet and canon of the Lutheran church of Ulm Minster. This extremely successful treatise, commonly known with the Latin title ‘Omnium Gentium Mores, Leges et Ritus’, is the first ethnographic work of the Early modern period. Mainly based on classical and humanistic authors, it is an encyclopaedia of the customs, institutions and rites of all peoples, “both those who once were and those now in the world”. The work is divided into three books, each dedicated to one of the three continents of the Old World. Book I, on Africa, opens with two chapters on the origin of humanity: the first reporting the biblical account, the second presenting the ideas of the ancient philosophers; then, it

• Binding: Hardcover

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