Ptolemy: The Whole World in a Book

Hamburg, 24. September 2007, (kk) - It is extremely rare and much coveted. Now the 1525 Strasbourg edition of the “Geographicae enarrationis...” by the mathematician and astronomer Claudius Ptolemy is to be sold (estimate: € 48 000) at the Ketterer Kunst auction of Rare Book on 19/20 November 2007. The “Geographia” is valuable for several reasons, among them the Lorenz Fries world map after Martin Waldseemüller - especially prized among connoisseurs. By 1507 Waldseemüller had named the continents of America after the mariner and navigator Amerigo Vespucci. Apart from a total of 50 woodcut maps, a stunning full-page representation of an armillary sphere by Albrecht Dürer is particularly noteworthy.

The series of illustrations “Los desastres de la guerra” by Francisco de Goya was already done in 1810-1820 in Madrid while the painter was still reeling under his impressions of the Peninsular War (1808-1814). Now the 80 Goya aquatints are to be sold at auction carrying an estimate of € 40 000. This is the complete sequence in the 1892 second edition of only 100. The cycle is regarded as Goya’s supreme achievement in etching because the representations are so devastatingly apocalyptic in character.

The Natural Sciences/Botany section is headed by the “Histoire et culture des orangers” by Joseph Antoine Risso and Pierre Antoine Poiteau, which is entering the race carrying an estimate of € 20 000. Risso, an apothecary and amateur botanist with a profound knowledge of local flora and fauna, joined forces with Poiteau, a gardener and botanical draughtsman who acquired his knowledge of tropical flora species on several voyages to Haiti, to produce a unique aesthetic and scholarly symbiosis in the second, complete edition of this magnificent monograph on citrus fruits.

Johann Christian Volckamer’s “Nürnbergische Hesperides” is another work dedicated primarily to citrus fruits and exotic flora, embellished by some allegorical representations. As a further bonus, a total of 115 copperplates also depict gardens and views of castles and farmsteads in southern Germany and Italy. This is Part I of the first edition of this celebrated monograph and it is estimated to fetch € 18.000.

At the slightly lower estimate of € 15 000, the first edition (1581) of Marx Rumpolt’s “Ein new Kochbuch” is a culinary marvel. “This monumental work at a blow overshadows everything that had appeared up to then in the field,” thus Swiss hotelier and writer Harry Schraemli. Rumpolt, a native of Hungary, the personal cook to the Electoral Court of Mainz [Churf. Meintzischen Mundtkoch] dedicated his work on the pleasures of the banqueting board to the queen of Denmark, from whose kitchen he had provided many a festive repast. Boasting 149 woodcuts, this book heads a list of some 70 titles in a collection of cookery books that is to be called at estimates that start as low as € 200 and an overall estimate of more than € 70 000.

In his first philosophical work (1746-49; publ. 1749), “Gedanken von der wahren Schätzung der lebendigen Kräfte ...” [“Thoughts on the True Estimation of Vital Forces”], the Enlightenment philosopher Immanuel Kant dealt with the natural sciences. The aim of this work was to arbitrate in the dispute between Leibniz on the one side and Descartes and Euler on the other about the view that bodies had no essential force. Kant contended that metaphysical arguments could prove the existence of such a force. The estimate for this first edition of this seminal work is € 6000.

Slightly lower at € 4000, the “Natursystem aller bekannten in- und ausländischen Insecten” [“Natural System of All Known Domestic and Foreign Insects”] by Carl Gustav Jablonsky and Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Herbst is the sole edition of this catalogue of insects, which is enchantingly illustrated, notably with representations of butterflies, some in vibrant colours heightened with an eggshell finish.

In addition to the second Latin edition of the Passion Sequence published by Matthias Ringmann, “Passio Domini Nostri...”, with 25 woodcuts by Urs Graf and Hans Wechtlin (estimate: € 14 000) and Conrad Gesner’s “Thierbuch” [“Animal Book”] (estimate: € 12 000), a luxury edition of the complete works of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and what is known as the small edition of the Hartmann Schedel Weltchronik (estimates € 10 000 and € 12 000 respectively) are bound to provide major excitement in the auction room.

Pre-sale viewings have been scheduled at 1 Meßberg, Hamburg, for the following dates and times:

07-09 November 11 am-5 pm
12-16 November 11 am-5 pm
18 November by appointment

The auctions of Rare Books - Manuscripts - Autographs - Decorative Prints are scheduled for the following dates and times, also at 1 Meßberg, Hamburg:

Main auction: 19/20 November both from 10 am
Evening auction: 19 November from 6 pm

Press enquiries:
Ketterer Kunst
Prinzregentenstraße 61
81675 München
Michaela Derra
phone: 089-55244-152 (Fax: -166)
E-mail: m.derra@kettererkunst.de

Enquiries in the Rare Books Division:
Ketterer Kunst
Meßberg 1
20095 Hamburg
Christoph Calaminus / Christian Höflich
Telephone: +49 (0)40-374961-11 / -20
Fax: +49 (0)40-374961-66
E-Mail: infohamburg@kettererkunst.de

You will also find this announcement at
www.kettererkunst.com

Since it was founded in 1954, Ketterer Kunst has been firmly established in the front ranks of auction houses dealing in art and rare books. While the Munich headquarters in the Prinz-Alfons Palais is responsible for the two traditional annual auctions of Modern Art & Post War, the Meßberghof in Hamburg is the venue for two traditional auctions a year, each based on the following fields: Old Masters and 19th-Century Art /Marine Art and Rare Books - Autographs - Manuscripts - Decorative Prints as well as Modern Art & Post War, with a focus on works on paper. In addition, exhibitions, special and benefit auctions for charity as well as live auctions online are regular events at Ketterer Kunst.

This release was published on openPR.