Martin Waldseemuller:  Tabula Moderna Terre Sancte

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Title: Tabula Moderna Terre Sancte

Map Maker: Martin Waldseemuller

Description:

A striking example of Waldseemuller’s modern map of the Holy Land.

This work was based on the manuscript maps of Sanuto and Vesconte of c.1320, which were updated by Nicholaus Germanus in 1482 to include more cities and textual information.

In its greatest departure from the Ptolemaic model, the map shows the land of Palestine divided among the 12 tribes of Judaea. The map is oriented to the southeast as indicated by the lines of latitude in the top margin. The map is very similar the modern Holy Land map first issued in the 1482 Ulm edition of Ptolemy’s Geographia, but includes additional decorative embellishments, including the large ship.

The first modern atlas, prepared by Martin Waldseemuller using the translation of Mathias Ringmann.  This is one of the most important editions of Ptolemy, containing many new regional maps.  Twenty new maps based on contemporary knowledge were included by Waldseemuller, in addition to the traditional twenty-seven Ptolemaic maps derived from the 1482 Ulm edition.

Martin Waldseemuller and his associate Mathias Ringmann, prepared this edition of Ptolemy, partly at the expense of Duke Rene of Lorraine.  It was brought to completion by Jacobus Eszler and Georgius Ubelin.  The atlas contains the first map in an atlas entirely devoted to America (Tabula terre nove), often called the "Admiral's map" after Columbus. The map of Lotharingia (the first map of the Duchy of Lorrain), printed in black, red and olive, is one the earliest examples of color-printing. This edition was reprinted in 1520 using the same woodcut blocks.

Condition Description: Minor soiling

References: Laor 609.

Related Categories:
Maps of the Holy Land