The 21 striking plates of the first edition of a remarkable mnemonic work by Johann Buno (1617-1697), which rarely appears on the market. The present work shows the history of the world in 21 plates, from 4000 BCE until roughly 1670.
Buno was a German philologist and Protestant theologian. He was rector of the Latin School in Lüneburg and later became professor in history, geography and theology. During the course of his life, he developed his emblematic teaching method to help his students better remember difficult concepts. His ideas were not new, as the mnemonic techniques Buno's teachings were based on were already used by Simonides of Ceos in the 5th century BCE. Using images in schoolbooks had also been done before, by John Amos Comenius (1592-1670) shortly before Buno. However, Comenius used images to make learning easier, not to remember concepts better. It was Buno's invention to combine images, in the form of emblemata, with mnemonics.
The detailed images make the historical events they depict easily recognisable, especially if you are already familiar with them. This unique history book is still useable today, but also offers an interesting insight into the knowledge and teaching methods of the late 17th century.
With an owner's inscription on the first flyleaf ("F. Stern: conft: 3 jyl:"). The present copy only contians the plates, not the text. The edges are scuffed, small ink splatters on the front, remnants of tape on the front board near the head of the spine, remnants of a label on the back pastedown, the endpapers are slightly foxed. The top margin of many of the plates is cut somewhat short, without loss of image. The plates are fine and clean. Overall in good condition. BM General catalogue, vol. 4, p. 836; VD17 3:313263C; cf. Allgemeine Deutsche biographie, vol. 3, pp. 540-541; Dorn, N., New Acquisition: Justinian's Institutes in emblemata, Johannes Buno's Memoriale Institutionem Juris. On: Library of Congress blogs, 2021.