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PTOLEMAEUS - PTOLEMY. World map. 1478 or 1490

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[Rome: 1478 or 1490]. Double-page engraved map of the ancient world, on two sheets joined, (392 x 555 mm), verso of centre with pasted paper backstrip. Condition: strengthened along fold, light dampstaining, thumbsoiling. An important Ptolemaic world map the second world map to be issued and rarely seen at auction. ABPC records just two examples of the map separately and two copies of the atlas in then last 30 years. The map is a beautiful example of the craft of Italian engraving without external decoration or wind points. Shirley points out that these engraved plates may well have been started as early as 1473 or 1474. The later Rome edition of the Geographia issued in 1490 also used these maps . The census of copies of the complete work in 1952 located 39 copies of the 1478 edition. Shirley World maps 4

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