Septentrionalium Partium Nova Tabula & Ptolemaei Typus

Burden “At least one example survives of the complete sheet, which tell us that in this case the sister map was the Prolemy world”.

A great impressions, whit plate tone, printed on single sheet (two sheets originally joined) of paper showing “shield with flower and star“ watermark, full margins, perfect condition.

Separately published issue of two maps—one an intriguing, early map of the northern regions and the other a Ptolemaic world map--that would also appear in the Ruscelli edition of Ptolemy’s geography. In the present form on a single sheet, however, the engraving was included in a Lafreri composite atlas. The upper map – Ruscelli’s edition of Nicolo Zeno’s 1558 work – was created by Zeno to illustrate voyages of his ancestors to Iceland and Greenland in 1380. That Zeno’s map included a number of fictional islands did not stop it from being one of the most influential depictions of the northern regions of the 16th century. The lower map is an elegant rendition of the Ptolemaic world, which represented the starting point for virtually all 16th century mapping. Examples of the 1561 first state of both of these maps found in Ruscelli’s atlas have plate marks only on the sides and at the bottom, because the maps were originally engraved on the same plate “head to head,” with one upside-down relative to the other. The single sheet was then divided into two maps for inclusion in the atlas. In the case of our example, the sheet was cut at the time of publication and rejoined in order to have both maps right side up. And since there is no text on the verso, there is no chance that the maps could have originally come from the atlas.