De mirandis Germaniae antiquitatibus, sermones convivales. Strassburg, apud Christianum Egenolphum,

Fine woodcut device on title-page. 4to (194 x 142 mm). [18]ff. 19th century green morocco by Emile Rousselle signed along inner edge, triple gilt fillets, gilt spine in compartments.

First published in 1506, also at Strassburg, this is the second and final edition to appear in the sixteenth century although further editions appeared in the 17th and 18th centuries. In a preliminary chapter De Lusitanis nautis qui in Indiam navigantis Peutinger writes with pride of Augsburg merchants' participation in the early commercial voyages of the Portuguese to India. Peutinger was a relative of the Welsers, important German merchants in Lisbon who were involved in Francisco de Almeida's expeditions along the east coast of Africa and to South India. Lach notes that the Moravian printer Valentim Fernandes, who acted as unofficial intermediary in Lisbon between merchants such as the Welsers and the Portuguese Government, was also a frequent correspondent of Peutinger and wrote, for example, in 1505 telling Peutinger of the departure of Almeida's fleet which included Welser ships. Peutinger was keen to hear of their progress and Lach continues, "In the three ensuing years, despite some embarrased reluctance on his part, he sent a series of manuscripts to Augsburg which Peutinger bound together between wooden boards and entitled, De insulis et peregrinationibus Lusitanorum. "Peutinger's Sermones convivales, published in 1506, are highly interesting in terms of assessing his critical competence ... This extensive examination, following Wimpheling's research, deals with the question of Gallic and Germanic borders. He concludes that cities east of the Rhine, from Cologne to Strassbourg and several other cities, were not subjected to the Gauls, but to the German kings and the Roman Emperors" (translated from ADB XXV, 566).VD16 P2082. Adams II, 941. D. Lach Asia in the Making of Europe, I, pp. 156-162.

Stock Code: 46451