A famous 16th century woodblock map of North Africa

WALDSEEMULLER, Martin.

Tabula nova partis Africae.
Vienne: Gaspar Trechsel, 1541. Coloured woodcut, printed area 305 x 410mm, with wide margins.

An important map of North Africa, cut by Laurenz Fries from Waldseemuller's larger 'modern' map, with added vignettes including kings on thrones, a rhinoceros, buffalo and a 'Colopedes' (a mis-reading of 'ciclopedes'), a man with no head and one eye on his chest, described on the map in Latin as 'big, black and horrible'.
Originally intended not for an edition of Ptolemy but for a new 'Chronica mundi' being written by Wäldseemüller, his death c.1520 caused the project to be shelved. The reduced woodcuts were then used to publish a smaller sized and so cheaper edition of Ptolemy's 'Geography'.

See NORWICH: 150.
Stock ID : 23837