First Venice Edition of Ptolemy’s Geographia – Sylvanus’s Liber Geographiae, pub. 1511 – Volume with 28 Maps

$145,000

Product No. ptolemy-1511

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Liber Geographiae cum tabulis et universali figura [or Geographia]

This early atlas is Bernardus Sylvanus’s Liber Geographiae cum tabulis et universali figura. It is the first Venetian edition of Ptolemy’s Geographia. The work was published in Venice in 1511 by J. Pentius de Leucho and edited by Bernardus Sylvanus.

This was the first illustrated edition of Ptolemy’s work that started to update the information on the maps (using the information of navigators). It was the only Italian edition of the work to utilize woodcut maps. The work is one of the earliest examples of two-color printing in cartography.

There are two world maps in the work: one after Ptolemy and the other with geographical knowledge of the time. The modern world map is only the second to show America in a Ptolemaic atlas. It is also includes the first map to indicate Japan.

The volume is bound in full contemporary calf, gilt. It features 28 double sheet engraved maps to 30 sheets with black and red printed details. There are also four full page diagrams to the text.

This work is considered a later published edition of Claudius Ptolemy (Ptolemaeus)’s Geographia. It was considered one of the most influential cartographic accounts of the ancient world and served as inspiration for all Renaissance mapmakers. He compiled what was known of the world’s geography in the Roman Empire during his time (circa 90-168 AD). Ptolemy was a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer, and poet. The earliest known manuscripts of Geographia date to 1300 and was first printed in 1477.

Provenance: Ownership inscription of Johannes Castani Amphius.. 1675

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