The very rare first issue of the Wäldseemüller/Fries Ptolemaic world

WÄLDSEEMÜLLER, Martin.

Generale Ptho.
Strassbourg: Johannes Grüninger, 1522. Woodcut, sheet 390 x 530mm.

A scarce first edition of the map of the world according to the Ancients, drawn by Martin Wäldseemüller from the information in Claudius Ptolemy of Alexandria's 'Geographia', written c. AD 150. This scarce first issue has the names of the winds but no wind-heads.
The map was originally drawn by Wäldseemüller for his 1513 edition of the 'Geographia'. This smaller format version by Laurent Fries was cut for a new 'Chronica mundi' (history of the world) that Wäldseemüller was writing; however his death in 1520 caused the project to be shelved, so the woodcuts were used to publish a new edition of the 'Geographia'. This first edition was unsuccessful, the reason that this state of the map is so rare (Shirley illustrates the second state) but, after a revision of the text improved reception, further editions were published in 1525, 1535 & 1541.

SHIRLEY: World 47, later state illustrated.
Stock ID : 20764