Subject: Pakistan, Afghanistan
Period: 1522 (circa)
Publication: Claudii Ptolemaei Alexadrini Geographicae…
Color: Hand Color
Size:
14 x 13.5 inches
35.6 x 34.3 cm
This rare Ptolemaic map covers the region of present-day Pakistan and part of Afghanistan. Convoluted mountain ranges and river systems dominate the trapezoidal map. The title is enclosed in a banner above the map and the map is enhanced with a small illustration of a king. The Latin text on verso includes an illustration of cities and strange inhabitants and animals thought to occupy the region, including dog-headed people, a man without a head and his face on his chest, a man with a huge foot that is used like an umbrella, and flying dragons. Laurent Fries produced the woodblocks for this edition of Ptolemy's Geography in a reduced version of the Waldseemuller maps for the 1513 edition.
References:
Condition: A
Tissue repairs on short fold separations, not affecting the map.