Name: The First Printed Edition of Isidore of Seville's 'Etymologies'
Author: Isidore of Seville

This is the first book printed in Günther Zainer's roman type, which he had used previously in a broadside calendar printed at the end of 1471. The rubrication of this copy, with its green initials, Maiblumen infill and exuberant flourishes, is characteristic of late fifteenth-century Augsburg illumination. Stylistically it recalls the decoration of several works from the press of Johann Schüssler, Augsburg's second printer, suggesting the same rubricator. Zainer’s decision to add woodcuts to his publication was initially opposed by the Augsburg woodworkers' guild until Zainer contracted them for the work.

This copy of the 'Etymologies' contains the first printed world map in Europe. T-O maps often appear in medieval copies of the 'Etymologies', rendered carefully within the text or in the margins, drawn by monks and students studying his words on the layout of the continents in Book XIV of the 'Etymologies'.

In addition to the T-O map, wind and climate diagrams, the woodcut illustrations in this book include: diagrams of trees of consanguinity (which maps familial blood relations and establishes 'six degrees of separation'), the four elements, the four seasons, the microcosm, and a concordance between the Julian and Egyptian calendars.

Folio. Thirty-eight lines, table in double columns; with three full-page woodcuts; small woodcut map; woodcuts finely coloured by a contemporary hand, probably by the rubricator, in red, green, and blue; small woodcut mathematical and lunar symbols in text, highlighted in red; initial spaces of sizes between three and seven lines, blank spaces for Greek words; marginal headings of table in red, running titles and flourished red Lombard initials in red in Books I–VI; initials alternately in red, green, and occasionally blue thereafter, many of which are elegantly flourished and filled in a contrasting colour, two with grotesque profiles; paragraph marks, capital strokes, and some manuscript guide-letters in red or brown ink.

This is a rare copy of the 'Etymologies' of 

, often referred to as the first encyclopaedia. It contained information on a very wide range of topics. The 'Etymologies' were a hugely influential source of knowledge for many centuries. In fact, Isidore was so admired for the breadth and depth of his knowledge that he has been named the Patron Saint of the Internet.

This copy of the 'Etymologies' is in original hand-colour. The use of stunning rubrication – applying red highlights by hand to significant printed capital letters – shows the intersection between handwritten manuscripts and the newly invented printing press. The T-O map illustrating this page is the earliest printed European world map. It shows Asia at the top, Europe on the left and Africa on the right, surrounded and divided by oceans and rivers.

’s most famous work, the 'Etymologies', originally composed around the seventh century. The 'Etymologies', considered the first encyclopaedia, was a primary resource for medieval map makers, and thousands of manuscript copies survive. His work provided medieval and Renaissance scholars with a vast wealth of ancient scientific knowledge and lexicography, establishing itself as one of the main routes for the transmission of classical learning to the Middle Ages. In addition to geography, the work also treats mathematics, astronomy, meteorology, geology, botany, agriculture, human anatomy, medicine, shipbuilding, architecture, and other technological subjects.

His work retained much authority into the sixteenth century, but early printed works, such as the present edition, mark the coming twilight of his influence. As experimental science grew in popularity through the Early Modern era, with that, new methods and technologies replaced classical texts as primary tools to explore the created world.

T-O map: the first printed map

Rubricated letters

Illuminated letter

Circular diagram, Lineage tree

Lineage Tree

Illuminated letters

’s enormously influential encyclopaedia, a pioneer of this genre. As a printed book, this is also a forerunner, containing the first printed map on a T-O projection, and the first text to use Günther Zainer's roman type. This copy is enriched with contemporary colouring and rubrication (with rubricator’s initials).

Contemporary South German pink-stained alum-tawed deerskin over wooden boards, covers panelled and divided into a saltire pattern by intersecting triple fillets. Two original chased brass fore-edge catches on upper cover, nail-bosses for clasps on lower cover, contemporary vellum manuscript title label on upper cover. 

 index tabs, formerly chained and with hole for chaining hasp at head of lower cover, later paper spine labels; rubbed and faded, clasps and metal corner and centre-piece bosses lacking, occasional small losses to leather; preserved in a folding cloth case. 