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A: Venezia, Veneto, Italy

The First Book Illustration Printed in Three Colors

1485
The first book illustration printed in three colors of ink. Detail from page of Theoricae novae planetarium. Please click to view entire page.

The first book illustration printed in three colors of ink. Detail from page of Theoricae novae planetarium. Please click to view entire page.

In 1485 printer Erhard Ratdolt of Venice issued Johannes de Sacro Bosco's Sphaera Mundi with Georg von Peuerbach's Theoricae novae planetarium, and Regiomontanus's (Johannes Müller von Königsberg's) Disputationes contra Cremonensia deliramenta. The work included illustrations printed in one, two and three colors of ink. A diagram of a lunar eclipse in red, yellow, and black included in this work is the first book illustration printed in three colors.

Though specific month and day is not mentioned in the colophon, the ISTC no. ij00406000 states that the work was issued before November 4, 1485. 

In November 2013 a digital facsimile was available at the Bayerisches Staatsbibliothek at this link.

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