This highly desirable world map is an excellent example of the evolving (yet still warped) medieval conception of the world's geography. Fries used Waldseemuller's 1513 edition of Ptolemy's Geographia as the source for most of the maps in his own edition, but this is Fries' own work, and it is even more inaccurate than Waldseemuller's rendering of the modern world. The name America appears for the first time on a Ptolemaic map and is used to identify South America, which appears with an entirely speculative western coastline. Even relatively well-known areas of the Old World become flawed in Fries' depiction. In Europe, Scotland and England are separate islands, and India is split into a double peninsula. Despite these distortions -- or because of them -- this map is much sought after. The map is bordered by a chain of banners naming the winds. This example was published in the 1541 edition and features an additional Latin title above the map: Tabula Orbis cum Descriptione Ventorum. When changes were made to this map for the 1535 edition, the plate developed a horizontal crack running from the middle of the right side of the map, also visible in this example.

See also lot 735 for Rodney Shirley's The Mapping of the World that describes this map.

References: Shirley #48; Mickwitz & Miekkavaara #211-50.

Condition: A

A nice impression with old color on a bright sheet with light toning along the edges and a professionally repaired 1/4" tear in the top margin. The paper has been professionally de-acidified and buffered to preserve and prolong its life in accordance with the recommended practices of the Institute of Conservation.