This title page is from the first edition of Gerard Mercator's edition of Ptolemy's Geographia. The beautifully designed sheet is composed of an elaborate strapwork design with the portrait of a king at top. For nearly sixty years, during one of the most important periods in cartographic history, Gerard Mercator was the preeminent cartographer - his name is second only to Ptolemy and is now synonymous with the form of map projection still in use today. He devoted much of his life to his maps of Ptolemy's Geography.

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Condition: B

Fine original color. Margins trimmed and laid onto a sheet of old (most likely 18th century) paper repairing 4 small tears, probably for a previous rebinding.