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Rare first edition of Pius's book (literally "The History of Deeds Everywhere Accomplished"), the first modern cosmography, which includes a complete description of Asia and the Far East, one of the key fifteenth-century texts that sought to synthesize traditional geographical learning with more recent knowledge. It was one of the fundamental geographical texts read by Christopher Columbus and profoundly influential on him; he owned and heavily annotated a copy of this edition, and it is probable that a copy formed part of his shipboard library. Pius laid the foundation of his book on Ptolemy: "Columbus. . . drew from it such knowledge of Ptolemy's Geography as he possessed" (Parry, p. 13). The information on Asia is supplemented with material from Marco Polo, and two other major, then unpublished, sources. The first is Oderic of Pordenone, a Franciscan friar, who started on his wanderings between 1316 and 1318, sojourned in Western India in 1321, and went via south-east Asia to China, where he arrived in 1322 and stayed for at least three years. The second is Nicolò de' Conti, a Venetian, who wandered over South Asia for a quarter of a century or more, returned to Italy in the company of Near Eastern delegates to the Council of Florence in the summer of 1441, and told his story to interested humanists. One of them was the papal lay secretary Poggio Bracciolini, who kept a written record of Conti's narrative. Pius borrows from this for his account of India's land and waterways, sometimes quoting verbatim. Oderic and Conti's accounts were later included in Ramusio's Navigationi. Pius was not uncritical of Ptolemy, his primary geographical source, and he maintains that Africa is circumnavigable. "Unwilling to accept the theory of the enclosed Indian Ocean, he leaned upon Conti's account for his description of India's land and waterways. Pius II lent the support of his learning and the prestige of his office to the idea that India might be reached by sailing around Africa" (Lach, pp. 70–1). After the Imago mundi of Pierre d'Ailly, this was the most heavily annotated book in Columbus's surviving library. It is probable that Columbus read them both before he embarked upon his first voyage (1492) and therefore they "constituted a vital part of Columbus's mental cargo from the very beginning" (Flint, p. 47). Pius's account was based on the latest available accounts, whereas d'Ailly relied for his account of India and other Asiatic regions solely on traditional authorities, such as Pliny, Solinus, and Isidore of Seville (see Lach, p. 70; Penrose, p. 9). Columbus's annotations in his copy of this book "are overwhelmingly concerned in one form or another with the riches and diversity of the Orient. Apart from the Amazons, hydrography, and general exotica, the specific topics in the book which most engaged Columbus's attention were the navigability of all oceans, the habitability of all climes, and the question of the existence of the Antipodes. In discussing the first of these questions, Pius II demonstrated an implicit belief - or disposition to believe - in a navigable route between Asia and Europe via the Atlantic. Columbus noted, for instance, his story of Indian merchants reportedly come ashore in Germany in the twelfth century. The humanist Pope had a habit of juxtaposing textual with empirical evidence - of using, that is, the practical results of reported navigations, the observed evidence of real journeys, to confirm or disprove the assertions of received wisdom. Columbus, who lacked formal education but laid claim to vast practical experience at sea, rested his own challenges to scholarly authority on the basis of his superior craft lore, albeit deploying written authority - increasingly, it appears, as time went on - in an ancillary role. His method may have been inspired by Pius II's example ... At the very least, Pius II can be said to have encouraged him to see geography as an exciting terrain of new discovery, in which few parts of the received picture were beyond cavil and a whole world was, as it were, up for challenge" (Fernández-Armesto, pp. 40–1). Though well-represented institutionally, this edition is rare in commerce, only two copies having been traced at auction in the past seventy years. READ MORE Folio (280 x 195 mm): a–f10 g-h8 i–l10; 105 (of 106) leaves, unnumbered, lacks initial blank a1. Mid-19th-century half vellum, Papier Tourniquet pattern marbled sides, red morocco spine label. Printed in roman letter, capital spaces with guide-letters; printed register on verso of last leaf. Old manuscript annotation to I7 verso. Spine slightly soiled with small chip to head, upper corner of front cover bumped causing superficial crack, extremities with small dents and minor loss of paper, scattered foxing, minor wormtrails at ends, slight ink smudges to first three leaves. A crisp copy. Bod-inc P-330; BMC V 233; BSB-Ink P-492; Goff P730; GW M33756; HC 257*; Klebs 372.1; Oates 1723, 1724; Pr 4322; Walsh 1702; ISTC ip00730000. F. L. Cross & E. A. Livingstone, The Oxford dictionary of the Christian church, 1997; Felipe Fernández-Armesto, Co

Historia rerum ubique gestarum is a historical work by Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini, known later in life as Pope Pius II. Published in 1477, this comprehensive account details various historical events and occurrences from around the world.