Catalog Archive
Auction 146, Lot 7

"Orbis Antiqui Tabulae Geographicae Secundum", Ptolemy/Mercator

Subject: Title Pages

Period: 1695 (circa)

Publication:

Color: Hand Color

Size:
9.4 x 14.5 inches
23.9 x 36.8 cm
Download High Resolution Image
(or just click on image to launch the Zoom viewer)

This striking, classical title page is from Mercator's edition of Ptolemy. It features two river gods in the foreground, and personifications of music, art, and learning are shown mapping the globe, while the angel of Fame trumpets above. Engraved by Jan van Vianen. 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.

References: Shirley (TP) #14B.

Condition: A

A fine impression on a bright sheet with light soiling and a few minute worm holes, all confined to blank margins.

Estimate: $275 - $350

Sold for: $230

Closed on 9/4/2013

Archived