Subject: Northern Africa
Period: 1730 (published)
Publication: Claudii Ptolemaei's Atlas Tabulae geographicae Orbis Terrarum
Color: Hand Color
Size:
18 x 13 inches
45.7 x 33 cm
Decorative Ptolemaic map of Northern Africa with the southern part of Sardinia and Sicily and Malta. The sea is stipple engraved and contains two very fanciful sea monsters. At the lower border are a lion and a leopard. A decorative title cartouche completes the composition. Although Mercator is most renowned today for the projection he popularized and for first using the term 'atlas' for a collection of maps, he devoted much of his life to his Ptolemaic maps. The maps were beautifully engraved as nearly as possible to their original form and are the most decorative of Ptolemaic maps.
References: Mickwitz & Miekkavaara, (Nordenskiold-2) #235-3.
Condition: B
There are several ink notations and some light scattered foxing.