A Mirror of the World: Five Centuries of Geographical Atlases
Universalior cogniti orbis tabula ex recemtibus con
confecta observationibus.[1508]
1 pl. 40,5õ 54 cm. Copperplate engraving.
Scale: [1:56 000 000]
The map of the world by Johannes Ruysch is one of the first printed map to show discoveries made on Columbus' voyage. It depicts the coast-line of South America, named the New World, and several of the islands of the West Indies. North America is not represented. This map marked a new stage in the development of map making , and is remarkable for its entire revision of cartographic canons, based on the Ptolemaic views.
From: [Collection of the Maps of Claudius Ptolomaeus. Rome,1508].
1 vol. (33 map plates, without its title page) 42õ30 cm. Copperplate engraving.
Shelfmark: Ê 0-Ìèð-7/345
It was dated and described both from the copy of Ptolemy's Geographia, held in the Russian State Library in Moscow, and also from A.E.Nordenskiold's Facsimile-atlas… Vol. XXXII, Briquet C.M. [3], no. 6280.
The collection of the maps to Ptolemy's Geographia was published in Rome in 1508. Twenty seven of the thirty three maps accord with those included in the previous editions of 1478 and 1490. The maps Tabula moderna Hispaniae, Tabula moderna Franciae, Tabula moderna Italiae, Tabula moderna Terra Sanctae, Tabula moderna Prussiae, Livoniae, Norvegiae et Gotiae, Universalior cogniti… were issued in the edition of 1507 and reprinted in this edition. The last two mentioned were the first published representations of parts of Scandinavia and the coastal line of the New World, respectively. It was at the very time that the tradition of including morden maps into Ptolemy's classical work started, since the atlas as a form of publication had not yet become established. Several decades later, this practice resulted in a complete confusion of ancient and new geography.
This collection is the oldest dated atlas in the holdings of the Cartographic Department of the National Library of Russia.
|
