Ptolemy, Claudius

World map from Claudii Ptolemaei Alexandrini philosophi Geographiam Arnoldus Buckinck e Germania Romae.

      Conrad Sweynheym and Arnold Buckinck, Rome 1478 - THE FIRST PTOLEMAIC MAP TO BE PRINTED FROM A COPPER PLATE. Copper-plate engraving: 151/2" x 211/2" References: Lloyd Arnold Brown, The World Encompassed, exh. cat. (Baltimore, 1952), n. 36; Rodney W. Shirley, The Mapping of the World (London, 1983), n. 4. The importance of this seemingly simple, elegant world map from the 1478 Rome edition of Ptolemy’s Georgraphia is impossible to overstate. It is considered by most historians to represent the apex of cartographic and technological progress in the fifteenth century (a time of major strides in the development of both printing and mapmaking). In terms of accuracy, beauty and graceful engraving, it remained the finest printed Ptolemaic map for nearly one hundred years after its publication. Ptolemy, the great Greek geographer, mathematician and astronomer, lived most of his life in Alexandria, the cultural center of the Hellenistic world. In about 160 A.D. he completed his "Guide to the Delineation of the World," which--after the New Testament--was the most enduring document of Christian doctrine, lasting for over 1400 years. Although he based much of his work on the information and learning of his predecessors, Ptolemy was the first to systematize geographical knowledge and to approach cartography in a scientific, systematic manner. His projection showed the sphericity of the earth and stressed the importance of determining exact latitude and longitude. Ptolemy, in fact, laid down principles of cartography almost two thousand years ago which in their essentials are in use to this day. Northern European immigrants to Rome, Conrad Sweynheym and Arnold Buckinck engraved this world map in the Eternal City in 1478. In 1465, Sweynheym had set up the first printing press in all of Italy, and with the help of mathematicians, he was the first to apply the new art of copper-engraving to the printing of maps. This innovation was a true landmark in the history of map printing, and the copper-plate medium soon became the standard on which all map publications were based. Only thirty-nine copies of the first 1478 edition were known to exist in 1952, perhaps even fewer today. This represents a rare opportunity to acquire an early modern map of outstanding significance.