Another part of the bequest is a first edition of Philipp Clüver’s Italia Antiqua, published by the Leiden publisher Elzevier in 1624. Also known by the Italianised name of Filippo Cluverio, the author was born in Danzig in 1580 and in the course of his adventurous existence crossed a large part of the European continent, as both a soldier and scholar.
to the Museum of Geography (Morb.10.1)
Clüver is highly regarded as a founder of historical geography, in particular as the first to describe and illustrate the ancient sites by integrating a close study of literary, epigraphical, archaeological and toponym sources — which, in a rather modern way, he always listed at the beginning of his volumes — with observations made directly on the ground during his exploratory trips.
In 1616 the University of Leiden awarded Clüver the title of Geographus academicus. Having received funding from the university, in 1617 he embarked on an arduous journey on foot through continental Italy and Sicily in order to complete his Italia antiqua. He was accompanied by the humanist Luca Holstenio and earned such great admiration from the Italian scientific community that he was offered a chair in Geography and Ancient History by one of the Italian universities, which, though tempted, he declined.
Clüver was only able to see the publication of one volume of his work, Ancient Sicily, in 1619. Family and health problems delayed the publication of the volume on the rest of Italy. This was published in 1624, two years after his death, by Elzevier in Leiden, probably after being completed and reworked by the humanist Daniel Heinsius.
The maps accompanying the two volumes of the book were designed by Clüver himself and engraved on copper by Nicolaus Geilkerck, except for the view of Rome which does not bear the name of its creator.
Browse the gallery and explore the volume:
Pages on the Move: Itineraries
An ex libris reveals that the book at one point belonged to Cardinal Giuseppe Garampi (Rimini 1725–Rome 1792), thus placing it in either Rimini or Rome. Garampi, like Clüver, also travelled extensively throughout Europe, and during his journeys acquired an enormous number of books. At his death some were donated to libraries and the others sold, as was the case with this volume, which was included in a catalogue of the Garampi library drawn up by Mariano De Romanis in advance of a sale.
Thanks to another ex libris, in an Egyptian style, we know the name of at least one of the subsequent owners, namely Fausto Venezian
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