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).

This Ptolemaic map of the ancient world follows the classical format in a restrained and simple style. The Mediterranean is well depicted, but greatly exaggerated in length. In Africa, the Nile is shown originating from two sources south of the equator. The Indian Ocean is landlocked with a continuous coastline joining Africa to South East Asia. Toprobana, present-day Sri Lanka, is a very large island in the Indian Ocean and the Indian sub-continent is completely missing, although the Ganges River is shown. Embellished with a stippled sea. This is the first state, as evidenced by the lack of the top platemark; two maps were printed from the same plate for the first edition. Italian text on verso. An unrelated text page from the atlas is also attached to the map.

References: Mickwitz & Miekkavaara #216-3; Shirley #109.

Condition: B+

There is some minor toning and light soiling and staining in the lower margins.