2 vols. in 16° (mm 205x130); pages viii, 389; (3), 411, (5), in the first vol. several engravings, 7 f.t.; a world map engraved in copper etching, folded several times on laid paper. Refined contemporary full leather binding with compartmented spine, gold title on double red and green gusset, elegant golden phytomorphic friezes made with small irons and wheel. Flat and edged marbled cuts and glances with gold borders. Nice example printed on partially blued paper, slight traces of oxide. These are the first two volumes of the large collection on Sciences and Arts published in Paris. The important geographical table represents the ocean from the Azores and Canary Islands to the unknown coasts of East Asia, as it appeared on the oldest surviving manuscript globe produced in Nuremberg in 1492 by Martin Behaim. The paper is titled in the cartouche: “ Pars Globi terrestris A° 1492 a Martino Behaim equite Lusitano. Nuremberge and confecti delineavit Cristoph. Theoph. de Murr 1778”. This fascinating globe was copied from Martino Behaim's globe, called the "apple of the earth", by the historian Cristoph. Gotlieb De Murr; the lands represented extend from Madeira and the large island of Gran Canaria to China and Java. In fact, Behaim had no notion of the existence of America. In the central part of the map the imaginary islands of Antilia and San Brendan appear. Also present is Japan or Cipangu island described as the richest island in the East, rich in forests of nutmeg and pepper trees. Gottlieb De Murr (1733- 1811) was a historical political jurist, prolific and omnivorous writer, passionate scholar, who dealt with science, natural history, art history, lover of books and manuscripts, he owned an important library. Martin Behaim (c. 1459-1507) was a merchant, mathematician and geographer from Nuremberg. Trained in mathematics as a boy, Martin traveled to Western Europe as an apprentice merchant and then as an apprentice weaver in Flanders. In 1480 he went to Lisbon to the court of King John II. The king was impressed by his mathematical abilities and in 1483 Behaim joined the king's council of mathematicians. In this capacity he tested and demonstrated navigation tools such as the crossbar. From 1485 to 1486 he sailed with Diego Cam along the coast of Africa. On the return voyage, he settled in Fayal, in the Azores, where he married and founded a Flemish colony; this colony is marked on the map. In 1490 Behaim returned to his hometown of Nuremberg. There the city commissioned him to make a globe, which he completed within a year. This globe is the oldest surviving example of its kind. Behaim prepared the gores of the globe, which were designed by an artist named Glockenthon. The globe measures 21 inches in diameter and is made of plaster-coated papier-mâché. It includes 1,100 geographic locations and depicts a Ptolemaic world with additions by Marco Polo, Sir John Mandeville, and others. Once exhibited, the inhabitants of Nuremberg began to call the wonderful object Erdapfel, earth apple. After completing the globe, Behaim returned to Portugal in 1498, where he served as an emissary to Belgium and the United Kingdom. Rare. Quaritch, Catalog of Books ON The History, Geography and of the Philology Of America, Australasia, Asia and Africa (1886).