The Huth Copy.
A handsome, complete example of one of the great atlases from the first half of the 16th century, with provenance to one of the most important book collections of the 20th century.
This is the 1536 second edition of Ziegler's suite of eight maps, with the first having been published in 1532.
In his book on the mapping of the Holy Land, Ken Nebenzahl had the following commentary on Ziegler and his mapping (pages 70-71):
Jacob Ziegler hoped to create a new series of maps of the world based on the scientific principles of the Renaissance. Its mathematical foundation would be astronomical readings taken throughout the world by special emissaries. But this task was never concluded, and Ziegler completed only the eight maps in this work, most of them based on the refinement of ancient sources.
The map of Palestine is oriented with north at the top. In accordance with the most recent practice, Ziegler identifies both the true and the magnetic north with a compass indicating the angle of declination. Longitude and latitude readings fixed the placement of the most important sites. The coastline is carefully drawn to agree with available information and to present a realistic picture of the major bays and inlets.
Mountain ranges are identified, as are four rivers: the Jabbok, Arnon, Jordan, and Kishon. Lake Hula is named Sama; the Sea of Galilee, Genessaret; and the Dead Sea, Asphaltis. Ziegler's distinctive delineation of the Dead Sea includes a crook or dog leg in the middle, with the bottom half angling westward.
Some biblical information is included. The boundaries of ten of the Twelve Tribes of Israel divide the land, and Sodom is located in the Dead Sea. Yet the names of most places are clearly taken from Roman or Greek sources. Jerusalem, for example, appears as Aelia.
Little is known of Ziegler's life. He was born in Landau and probably attended university in Italy. He became a professor at Vienna but maintained many connections in Venice and Ferrara, as well as in Scandinavia and Germany. His early interest in geography led him to publish in 1504 a book on mathematical and geographical problems. In 1532 he published his first series of maps, seven of the region around Palestine and one of Scandinavia.
Two manuscripts of the 1532 edition survive, which, with Ziegler's comments in the printed edition, document the development of the work. Ziegler sent one manuscript to his humanist colleague Willibald Pirkheimer at Nuremberg in 1530, shortly before Pirkheimer's death. Three maps were included: one of Palestine, one of the entire eastern Mediterranean, and one of Scandinavia. Ziegler explained that he would not publish the maps until he could determine what adjustments would result from the discovery of America. When the manuscript was published in 1532, seven maps with much greater detail portrayed Palestine and the surrounding area, forming the first atlas of the Holy Land.
In his text the author describes his sources and his method for including places on his maps. His primary source was Ptolemy and Asia Part IV in Ptolemy's atlas. Ziegler divided the Red Sea into two gulfs in his map of the Sinai, following Ptolemy. This feature was often glossed over by later cartographers of the Holy Land, though recognized by most cartographers of the Indian Ocean or the world. Ziegler rearranged, reoriented, and extended the Mediterranean coastline so that the mouth of the Nile was no longer aligned with the Palestine coast. His major sources for this adjustment were Strabo and Pliny. His delineation of the Dead Sea and the Jordan River parallels the newly aligned coastline, and the identification of three sites on the western shore of the Dead Sea-Sohar, En Geddi, and Masada (wrongly located north of En Geddi)-provides the angle that is repeated in the Mediterranean coastline. Ziegler found the peculiar positions of En Geddi and Masada in Josephus, who claimed that En Geddi was three hundred leagues from Jerusalem. The novel configuration of the Dead Sea became a distinguishing characteristic by which his influence on many successive maps of Palestine, notably those by Gerard Mercator and Tilleman Stella, may be traced.
Though Ziegler spoke of sending emissaries to obtain quadrant readings, in the end he had to rely on Ptolemy's measurements. Additional place names were taken from Strabo, Pliny, Josephus, the Antonine Itinerary, and Jerome. "Modern" accounts such as those of Burchard of Mt. Sion and Bernhard von Breitenbach were consulted, but Ziegler preferred ancient authorities, with which he had an outstanding facility.
Any sites that were not corroborated by at least one other text were carefully excluded, yet some features of the cartographical tradition found their way into Ziegler's maps. The delineation of the Twelve Tribes was borrowed from Joshua and Eusebius, but Ziegler was careful to point out that he had derived his information from Jerome's translation of Eusebius, not from the latter's lost map. Ziegler modified Burchard of Mt. Sion's incorrect delineation of the Kishon River. He placed the source in Mt. Gilboa. The river branches, one stream flowing toward the Sea of Galilee, and the other toward the Mediterranean.
The lines indicating the direction and distances from Jerusalem-the umbilicus mundi, or "navel of the world"-to major foreign cities are an unusual feature. The exact source of these is a mystery, though such lines could be calculated based on the information of Ptolemy. Mercator, Tilleman Stella, and others included this network of lines in their maps of the area.
Ziegler's work has been called the first scientific map of the Holy Land, yet the scientific data essentially comes from Ptolemy, fourteen centuries earlier. Ziegler was a careful historian, well versed in historical criticism. He employed the foremost ancient authorities and subjected them to severe comparison, omitting any locations he felt were unfounded. The map was copied well into the seventeenth century, by Mercator, Stella, and others, but it is really a testimony to the information of Ptolemy and to the revival of classical geography.
The Map of Scandinavia
"This map by Jacob Ziegler represented the first different type of representation of Scandinavia in the fifty years since the publication of the Ulm atlas of 1482. The depiction of the Scandinavian peninsula showed considerable improvement, and many names and features can be readily identified. The map was used by Munster in his 1540 map of Scandinavia (CE 13) and subsequently by Gastaldi in 1548 (CE 16)." - Ginsberg, Scandia, 10.
Provenance
Henry Huth, with his ex-libris ("Ex Musaeo Huthii") on the front pastedown;
His sale, June 9, 1920, lot 8237 (with inlaid catalog entry);
Private collection, California