Ptolemaues, Claudius

Double-page woodcut map (15 1/4 x 21 1/2 in.; 387 x 548 mm), colored in a contemporary hand with dark blue, brown, green, and pink, with titles highlighted in ochre; reinforced along center fold on verso, slight abrasion in lower portion of fold with small paper repair just offshore. Left margin trimmed, slightly affecting text; slight marginal dampstaining. Matted, glazed and framed.

Laor 603

One of the earliest "modern" maps of Palestine, from the celebrated Ulm Ptolemy of 1482. This revised edition of Ptolemy’s Geographia was noteworthy for being the first atlas published north of the Alps, and the first to included five “modern” maps depicting Italy, Spain, France, Scandinavia, and the Holy Land. The venture proved ruinously expensive for Lienhart Holle, whose business would go bankrupt shortly after its publication. 

The map of Palestine is based upon maps by Petrus Vesconte, published by Marino Sanuto circa 1320. “The map is orientated to the east, and shows the whole of Palestine on both sides of the Jordan divided into the 12 Tribes. The shore line runs from Sidon to Gaza. South of a fantasy Carmel Mountain there is a big island, called the Castle of the Pilgrims (Atlit of today), and a similar but smaller island north of Jaffa called Assur. The Carmel Mountain is misshapen. The Jordan River in its wide meanderings is shown as a thin line” (Laor).