Catalog Archive
Auction 183, Lot 508

"Tabula Africae III", Ptolemy/Magini

Subject: Northern Africa

Period: 1617 (published)

Publication: Ioannis Antonii Magini...Geographiae, Tum Veteris, Tum Novae...

Color: Black & White

Size:
6.7 x 4.9 inches
17 x 12.4 cm
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Claudius Ptolemy was a mathematician, astronomer and geographer who worked in Alexandria, then a part of the Roman Empire, in the 2nd century AD. One of the most learned and influential men of his time, his theories dominated both astronomy and geography for nearly 1500 years. His writings were kept alive by Arabic scholars during the Middle Ages and reemerged in Europe during the Renaissance. The birth of printing led to wide dissemination of his great works on astronomy and geography. There were a number of editions of his Geographia beginning in 1477. These early editions contained maps based on his original writings, known as Ptolemaic maps. As geographic knowledge increased with the explorations of Columbus, Magellan, Cabot and others, maps of the New World were added, and maps of the Old World were revised. Ptolemy's Geographia continued to be revised and published by some of the most important cartographers including Martin Waldseemuller, Sebastian Munster, Giacomo Gastaldi, Jodocus Hondius, and Gerard Mercator (whose last edition was published in 1730).

Finely engraved Ptolemaic map of eastern Libya and Egypt with numerous ancient place names. The interior is filled with mountains as well as some spurious lakes and rivers. Latin text on verso. Printed in Arnhem by Jan Jansson.

References: Mickwitz & Miekkavaara #231-13.

Condition: B+

A dark impression with light toning and a few faint dampstains along the sheet edges. There is a printer's crease in the bottom left corner.

Estimate: $120 - $150

Sold for: $70

Closed on 6/9/2021

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