Auction 93 Part 1 - Manuscripts, Prints and Engravings, Objects and Facsimiles, from the Gross Family Collection, and Private Collections

Totius Terrae Sanctae – Martin de Brion – Only Edition, Paris, 1540 – Woodcut of Jerusalem

Opening: $300
Sold for: $4,000
Including buyer's premium

Totius Terrae Sanctae urbiumque et quicquid in eis memoria dignum actum gestumve fuit, secundum Bibliacos libros ac divum Hyeronimum. Paris: Gullielmum de Bossozel, 1540. Latin.


Martin de Brion's work on the cities and sites of the Holy Land. Only printed edition, with a depiction of Jerusalem on the title page (woodcut). The sites are organized alphabetically. The geographical position of each site is given, together with a significant biblical event which occurred in that place, and the verses where it is mentioned in the Holy Scriptures.
The present work first appeared in French, in form of an illustrated and decorated manuscript. There are three extant copies of the decorated manuscript, one dedicated to Henry VIII King of England, and one to Francis I King of France (see: British Library, Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts, Royal MS 20 A IV / French Library, Ms. Fr. 5638). This is a copy of the only printed edition of the work, published in Latin shortly after the manuscript was completed.


[58] leaves. Approx. 22 cm. Good condition. Stains. Minor tears. Paper repairs to verso of title page and margins of one leaf (not over text). Bookplate. Parchment binding, slightly worn.


Provenance: The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, NHB. 153.

Palestine Travelogues, Geography and Maps
Palestine Travelogues, Geography and Maps