16th century woodcut world map with mythical kings and beasts.
Diefert Situs Orbis Hydrographorum Ab Eo Quem Ptolomeus Posuit…
Out of stock
Description
Elegant world map reduced from that of Waldseemüller (1513), onto which Fries has added the five kings of Russia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Sri Lanka (Taprobana), and Thailand (Mursuli), along with a mammoth in the upper left corner near Greenland, which is depicted as a peninsula.
Two separate sections of the Americas are depicted running out of frame to the west. Similarly to Fries’s other contemporary world map, India is drawn as a confusing double peninsula. England and Scotland on this are depicted as a single island rather than the two on the other map.
One of the earliest world maps available to the collector, an attractive rendering of the known world. The plain type title Tabula nova totius orbis marks this example as the 1541 Vienne issue.
Source: Geographicae enarrationis libri octo
Cartographer(s):
Laurent/Lorenz Fries (ca. 1485-1532) was born in Alsace circa 1490 and studied medicine and mathematics at a number of European universities. He was trained as a physician but was also keenly interested in cartography and medical publications. From 1518-19 Fries is mainly based in Strasbourg, where he was commissioned to compile the first edition of Waldseemüller’s atlas after his death in 1520.
Condition Description
Striking hand color and excellent impression. Remnants of hanging tape on verso. Minor vertical cracking along centerfold.
References
Shirley, Rodney W. The Mapping of the World: Early Printed World Maps, 1472-1700. London: Holland Press, 1983, #49.
