Ptolemaeus, Claudius

Geographie opus novissima traductione e Graecorum archtypis castigatissme pressum. [Colophon:] Strassburg: Johann Schott, 1513



Folio (18 x 12 1/8 in.; 458 x 308 mm). 47 woodcut maps of which all but 2 are double-page, the final map of Lorraine printed in three colors, includes the variant map of Switzerland captioned "Tabula nova Heremi Helvetiorum," woodcut text diagrams, extensive contemporary marginalia in two hands; bottom portion of title renewed with 12 lines on verso supplied in excellent penwork facsimile, first two leaves a bit shorter at fore-edge, mostly marginal worming and minor tears in first few leaves repaired, occasional small spots on maps, mended wormholes and marginal tears on maps sometimes touching borders, repaired tears affecting image in 3 maps (Italy, Switzerland & upper Rhineland), lower blank portion of last leaf renewed, lacking final blank leaf. Contemporary blind-tooled calf, clasps and catches; rebacked, endpapers renewed, some repaired scuffmarks and worming. Brown cloth drop box.

Pierre S. Dupont III (his sale, Christie's NY, 8 October 1991, lot 214)

Phillips, Atlases 359; Sabin 66478; Shirley 34; The World Encompassed 56

The first modern atlas and one of the most important editions of Ptolemy with many new regional maps.

The atlas was prepared by Martin Waldseemüller, the most famous of all early sixteenth-century cosmographers and his associate Mathias Ringmann, to be completed by Jacobus Eszler and Georg Ubelin. In addition to the traditional body of twenty-seven Ptolemaic maps, derived from the 1482 Ulm edition, the atlas contains twenty new maps based on contemporary knowledge. Among these is the first map in an atlas entirely devoted to America (Tabula terre nove), often called the "Admiral's map" after Columbus. The map of Lorraine, printed in red, black and olive, is one of the earliest examples of color printing.