|
||
|
|
|
|
First Modern Map of The Iberian Peninsula (Spain & Portugal) - Based on The Earliest Surviving Manuscript Map of the Iberian Peninsula
Based upon the work of the 2nd Century Alexandrian polymath Claudius Ptolemy, this map is perhaps the single most important modern map of the Iberian Peninsula published in the 15th Century.
Along with the map of Francesco Berlingheri also first published in 1482 in Florence, the present map holds the distinction of being the first modern map of the Iberian Peninsula. It is also the first map to appear to be in its original color and the first published North of the Alps.
The present map differs significantly from Berlinghieri's map, with the present map having an entirely different arrangement of mountains, a thinner peninsular shape, and extends to more outlying islands. While Berlingheri's map ends with Majorca, the present map extends to Minorca and
The map covers all of the Iberian Peninsula, delineating the Kingdoms of Spain and Portugal, the Emirate of Grenada ("Regnum Granate:", still under Muslim control when this map was issued), and the Principality of Catalonia. Major regions, such as Navarre, Biscay, Galicia, Castile, and Andalusia, are named.
Sources
Remarkably, the Berlingheri map of 1482 and the Ulm Ptolemy map of 1482-86 derive from two different originals, the Ulm Ptolemy likely coming from an anonymous manuscript Modern Map of Spain from codex 2586 of the General Library of the University of Salamanca , from the end of the 15th century and the Berlingheri map from a manuscript map of Florentine miniaturist Pietro del Massaio.
As noted above, the present map likely derives from a map found in codex 2586 (a manuscript copy of Ptolemy’s Geographia), which we will refer to herein as the Margarit map, named for its first owner, Cardinal Joan Margarit i Pau, and typically dated 1456 (the date of the codex). While found in a manuscript copy of Ptolemy’s Geographia, the Margarit map was clearly not originally part of this work and was likely cut out to be bound into codes 2586.
It is likely that the Berlingheri map of the Iberian Peninsula derives from the work of Florentine miniaturist Pietro del Massaio, whose manuscripts, dating from before 1456 to 1472, contained maps of Spain, France, and Italy and were noted for their resemblance to each other, yet with varying representational techniques. The following link shows an image of a unique woodcut map of the Iberian Peninsula in the Museo Correr in Venice which follows the configuration of Massio's, which is drawn with south at the top, superimposed over the Margarit map.
For a discussion of the earliest modern maps of Spain, we recommend Roberto Almagia's The First Modern Map of Spain Imago Mundi, 1948, Vol. 5 (1948), pp. 27-31.
Rarity
Ulm Ptolemy maps are scarce on the market.
This is the first example of the map of Spain we have offered for sale.
The Ulm Ptolemy of 1482 and 1486
The Ulm edition of Ptolemy was first published in 1482 by Lienhart Holle. In contrast to the two earlier illustrated editions of Ptolemy's geography - Bologna (1477) and Rome (1478) - the maps in the Ulm edition are woodblock prints, not copperplate engravings. The maps in the Ulm edition follow the manuscript maps of Donnus Nicolaus Germanus, a Benedictine monk from Breslau who produced brilliant presentation copies for Italian elites in the 1460s and 1470s. Specifically, the Ulm was patterned after the manuscript atlas prepared for Pope Paul II. The Ulm Ptolemy was the first book Holle published, but it was also to be one of his last. Holle went bankrupt shortly after the original publication. The work was then taken over by Johann Reger, who issued another edition in 1486.
The differences between the two editions are relatively small. The 1486 maps typically include titles at the top, whereas there were no titles on the 1482 maps. An unpublished study of the individual maps reveals that there are multiple states of most of the maps.
It had long been suggested that the way to differentiate between the 1482 and 1486 editions was the use of lapis lazuli blue in the 1482 edition for the seas, whereas the 1486 used brown. However, the same unpublished study, which evaluated dozens of examples of the two editions, determined that the earliest examples of the 1486 were also issued with the lapis lazuli blue, suggesting that when Johann Reger acquired the woodblocks, he likely also acquired some unused lapis lazuli. In 2021, we offered for sale a complete example of a 1486 entirely in lapis lazuli blue.
Claudius Ptolemy (fl. AD 127-145) was an ancient geographer, astronomer, and mathematician. He is known today through translations and transcriptions of his work, but little is known about his life besides his residence in Alexandria.
Several of his works are still known today, although they have passed through several alterations and languages over the centuries. The Almagest, in thirteen books, discusses astronomy. It is in the Almagest that Ptolemy postulates his geocentric universe. His geometric ideas are contained in the Analemma, and his optical ideas were presented in five books known as the Optica.
His geographic and cartographic work was immensely influential. In the Planisphaerium, Ptolemy discusses the stereographic projection. Perhaps his best-known work is his Geographia, in eight books. However, Ptolemy’s ideas had been absent from western European intellectual history for roughly a thousand years, although Arab scholars interacted with his ideas from the ninth century onward.
In 1295, a Greek monk found a copy of Geographia in Constantinople; the emperor ordered a copy made and the Greek text began to circulate in eastern Europe. In 1393, a Byzantine diplomat brought a copy of the Geographia to Italy, where it was translated into Latin in 1406 and called the Cosmographia. The manuscript maps were first recorded in 1415. These manuscripts, of which there are over eighty extant today, are the descendants of Ptolemy’s work and a now-lost atlas consisting of a world map and 26 regional maps.
When Ptolemy’s work was re-introduced to Western scholarship, it proved radically influential for the understanding and appearance of maps. Ptolemy employs the concept of a graticule, uses latitude and longitude, and orients his maps to the north—concepts we take for granted today. The Geographia’s text is concerned with three main issues with regard to geography: the size and shape of the earth; map projection, i.e. how to represent the world’s curve proportionally on a plane surface; and the corruption of spatial data as it transfers from source to source. The text also contains instructions as to how to map the world on a globe or a plane surface, complete with the only set of geographic coordinates (8000 toponyms, 6400 with coordinates) to survive from the classical world.
![[Mythical Islands of Brasil and Asmaide] Azores (and) Cadiz](https://storage.googleapis.com/raremaps/img/small/106558.jpg)
![[Cadiz] Isle Ville et Port De Cadis en Espagne de la Province d'Andalousie a 36.D. de Latitude et 12 Degrez 45 Minutes de Longitude](https://storage.googleapis.com/raremaps/img/small/62354.jpg)