Waldseemuller's 'modern' map of the British Isles

WALDSEEMULLER, Martin.

Tabu. Moder. Anglie & Hiber.
Lyons: Melchior & Gaspar Trechsel, 1535. Coloured woodcut, printed area 410 x 400mm.

Repairs to the bottom margin at centre fold.

Waldseemuller's 'modern' map of the British Isles, using the block cut for the 1522 edition of Ptolemy's 'Geographia'. The famous eastern slant of Scotland according to Ptolemy has been corrected, but the outline is almost square. Ireland is an inverted pear-shape, with the 'purgatorium of S. Patrick' in the north. In the Atlantic is 'Brazil', an island that emerged from the sea every seven years, a myth that endured on maps into the 19th century.

SHIRLEY: British Isles 1477-1650, Item 25.
Stock ID : 22846