Early woodcut map of Scandinavia

WÄLDSEEMÜLLER, Martin.

Norbegia et Gottia.
Lyons: Melchor & Gaspar Trechsel, 1535. Woodcut, printed area 340 x 450mm.

A very fine example of the Fries issue of Wäldseemüller's 'modern' map of Scandinavia, in turn a faithful copy of the first map of the region printed in Ulm in 1482. Norway, Sweden and Iceland are virtually unrecognisable; at the top, east of Iceland, is Greenland, connected by a narrow isthmus to the rest of Scandinavia. The rest of Europe follows the Ptolemaic format. The title is on a banderole above the map; the text on the right edge of the map describes the lenghening hours of daylight as a traveller moves north.

Originally intended not for a Ptolemy edition but for a new 'Chronica mundi' being written by Wäldseemüller, his death c.1520 caused the project to be shelved, so the woodcuts were used to publish a smaller sized and so cheaper edition of the 'Geography'.

The editior of this edition was Michael Servetus, who was burned at the stake for heresy in 1553; John Calvin ordered that copies of the 'Geography' should be burnt with him.


Stock ID : 14215