PTOLEMIC MAP

TAB: and IX. and ASIAE and Continens and ARIAM, and PAROPANISUM

1695, Amsterdam

40 x 34 cm.

Ptolemaic map prepared for the Cl. Ptolemaei Alexandrini, Geographiae Libri Octo, first published in Cologne by Gottfried von Kempen (1578) and then reprinted by the same publisher in 1584 (Van der Krogt 1, 502) and then by Isaac Elsevier for the Petrus Bertius’ Theatrum Geographiae veteris (Leyden 1618). Mercator’s interpretation of the 28 Ptolemaic text was possibly one of the truest undertaken up until that time. He had spent 13 years researching, drawing and engraving the maps at much commercial sacrifice to himself, having seen Ortelius’s Theatrum and De Jodes Speculum published, to become both technical and commercial successes. In later life he devoted himself to his edition of the maps in Ptolemy’s Geographia, reproduced in his own engraving as nearly as possible in their original form. The work is also famous for its longevity, since the original plates were still in use in 1730, over one hundred and fifty years after their engraving. Example taken from the Tabulae geographicae Cl: Ptolemei by François Halma, printed between Utrecht, Amsterdam and Leiden in 1695, 1698, 1704 (2 printings) and 1730. The plates are amended and the cartouches completely changed; smaller and made over the previous ones – erased – leaving large white areas on the print. Copperplate, good condition.