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. In addition to the T-O map and wind and climate diagrams, the woodcut illustrations include diagrams of trees of consanguinity (blood relations), the four elements, the four seasons, the microcosm, and a concordance between the Julian and Egyptian calendars.

Günther Zainer’s edition of the ‘Etymologies’ contains the very first printed maps in Europe. These include a simple T-O map, a wind diagram, and a climate diagram. 




This schematic map was used in manuscripts of the Etymology from the eighth century onwards and was a staple of medieval cartography. In this basic type, the disc of the world is divided into three zones separated by a T-shaped Mediterranean Sea (‘Mare magnum sive mediterraneum’, with Asia uppermost, and Europe and Africa in the two lower sections, the whole earth circumscribed by the world ocean (‘Mare oceanvm’). The three known continents are labelled with the name of Noah’s three sons: Sem in Asia, Cham in Africa, and Japhet in Europe. Outside the circle the four basic directions are marked; Oriens (East), Occidens (West), Septentrio (North), and Meridies (South).

Wind Diagram
While Aristotle introduced the concept of a wind diagram in his ‘Meteorology’ (book 11, chapter 6). Isidore’s map is the first known medieval diagram of the winds. The Latin names of the winds are given as well as the Greek (with many misspellings): The North Wind ('Septentrio'/'Aparctias'); The East Wind ('Subsolanus'/'Apeliotes'); the South Wind ('Auster'/'Notus'); and the West Wind ('Pauonius'/'Zephyrus'). Each of the four major winds is flanked by subsidiary winds in the diagram. The North accompanied by 'Circius'/'Thrascias' (left) and 'Aquilo'/'Boreas' (right); The East by 'Vulturnus'/'Caecias' (left) and 'Eurus'/'Eurus' (right); The South by 'Euroauster'/'Euronotus' (left) and 'Austroafricus'/'Libonotus' (right); and the West by 'Africus'/'Lips' (left) and 'Corus'/'Argestes' (right).

Climate Diagram
Following ancient writers, medieval scholars identified five major climactic zones: the Arctic and Antarctic, or North and South frigid zones; the North and South temperate zones, extending from the Tropic of Cancer to the Arctic Circle and the Tropic of Capricorn to the Antarctic Circle; and the torrid zone between the two tropics. Only the temperate zones were thought to be habitable. In the upper diagram, the five climate zones are shown in an abstract configuration resembling a flower with five circular petals. Isidore relates the zones to the five fingers of the hand, a classic mnemonic technique used throughout the Middle Ages.

 (c. 560 – 636) was the first Christian intellectual of the late-antique era to create an encyclopaedia summarizing the natural world and its etymology. Organized within the medieval quadrivium – the second curricular stage of liberal arts education comprising arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy – Isidore’s ‘Etymologies’ and his other major work ‘On the Nature of Things’ preserved a treasury of natural philosophy and became one of the main sources of classical learning in the Middle Ages. 

Isidore’s work on geography (book XIV) is a synthesis of Classical scholars, namely Gaius Julius Solinus and Pliny the Elder, with Christian authors such as Augustine, Ambrose, and Jerome. Isidore’s geography divides the Earth into three parts, Asia occupying half the globe with Europe and Africa each occupying a quarter. Europe is separated from Africa by the Mediterranean, and Europe from Asia by the Volga River. All three continents are encircled by a vast sea. 

Isidore believed that the Earth was spherical in shape but it remains unclear if he understood it as a globe or a flat disk. In etymological terms, he explains that the earth’s description as ‘orbis’ was derived from ‘orbiculus’ meaning a small wheel. The Earth thus resembles a wheel in its roundness. Whether this wheel could be traversed was less certain. Isidore dismisses the idea of the so-called ‘antipodes’ on the opposite side of the world, considering them legendary with a lack of evidence.
 
Isidore's round map, which is essentially that of the Greek philosopher Anaximander, continued to be used through the Middle Ages by authors such as the ninth-century Bishop, Rabanus Maurus who compared the habitable part of the northern hemisphere to a wheel, and the twelfth-century scholar 

 who argued definitively that the Earth was spherical (see SC-M-c1200-Anon-Conches).


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. The names of the sons of Noah are also featured, demonstrating the overlap between secular and theological beliefs.

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 to use Günther Zainer's roman type. This copy is splendidly 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, vellum 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. 

Folio. 38 lines, table in double columns; with three full-page woodcuts on ff. o5v and o6r–v, small woodcut map on f. t7v, the 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 3 and 7 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; line of blind bearer type at foot of f. i5v.

The First Printed World Map from Isidore of Seville's 'Etymologies'