Books

Antwerp: Plantin, 1578. Hardcover. Very Good. 4to - over 9¾ - 12" tall. 4to. [23 x 16.5 cm], (4) ff., 417, (1) pp., (1) f. Bound in contemporary vellum over flexible boards, head slightly chipped; early signature on t-p. Woodcut 'golden compass' device of the Plantin press on title. Generally good. First edition of this early modern geographical dictionary, published alongside the first Plantin edition of Ortelius' successful Theatrum orbis terrarum (Antwerp 1579), and listing thousands of names, both ancient and modern, for "peoples, regions, islands, great and small towns, mountains, foothills, forests, seas, bays, lakes" etc. depicted in the atlas. Earlier versions of the Synonymia had previously appeared as indices to the atlas, containing a little over 2,000 entries; "in all, this first version of Ortelius' geographical dictionary in the form of a separate book includes approximately 10,000 entries" (Meurer). Ortelius' methodology in the present…