About this Item
Very rare illustrated Spanish edition of Llull's Tree of Science
Llull, Ramon. Arbor scie[n]tie. 20 August 1505. Barcelona. Pere Posa. Folio, ff. clxxvii, first two in excellent facsimile, first 43 ff. are heavily annotated.in two columns and illuminated capitals, with 17 woodcut illustrations depicting Llull's famous trees of knowledge. Extensive near contemporary annotations throughout, particularly on leaves i-xliii. First two leaves supplied in facsimile, washed and pressed, an old paper repair to signature a iii affecting a few words on verso; several margins repaired not affecting text; and the entire volume washed and pressed. Modern leather binding stamped in blind and black ink, spine with raised bands and gilt lettering.
Rare second edition of Llull's Arbor scientiae, with its famous woodcut renditions of Llull's trees of knowledge, and a very early Spanish printed work on science. The work is divided into sixteen trees of scientific domains following the all-embracing arbor scientiae. "An expression of his mystical universalism, this encyclopedic work concentrates on the central image of a tree of science, able to sustain areas of knowledge. Appearing at the very beginning of the book, the illustration of the tree of science works as an introduction to his beguiling concept and a sort of arborescent table of contents. This great tree comprises eighteen roots, which relate to nine transcendent principles (not detailed) and nine art principles: difference, concord, contrariety, beginning, middle, end, majority, equality, and minority. The top of the tree is made of sixteen branches, each bearing a fruit and a label, representing the different domains of science, which are then depicted as individual trees in the remaining pages of the work' (Visual Complexity: Mapping patterns of information, New York, Princeton Architectural Press, 2011, pp. 31-35).
Ramón Llull (c.1232-1315/1316), the Majorcan writer, logician, philosopher, and polymath, completed the The Tree of Science between 1295 and 1296, a pioneering work in the representation of knowledge.
As with the first edition, issued in 1482, this volume was published by the famous Catalan printer, Pere Posa.
A full description is available upon request.
Seller Inventory # 3084
Contact seller
Report this item
