Laurent Fries’s rare map of Germany from the 1535 Lyon edition of Claudius Ptolemy’s Geographia, the final and rarest of the Strasbourg Ptolemaic atlases.
Based on the work of Martin Waldseemüller, the map presents Germany using the latest geographical knowledge of the early sixteenth century rather than the ancient geography of Ptolemy. It covers the region from the Low Countries to Poland and Bohemia, and from the Baltic Sea to the Alps, identifying many important cities, rivers, forests and mountain ranges within the Holy Roman Empire.
The map is a reduced version of Waldseemüller’s larger original, engraved as a woodcut by Fries. Although smaller in format, it preserves a remarkable level of geographical detail and illustrates the growing accuracy of Renaissance cartography. Its simple design, with little decorative ornament, reflects the practical purpose of the Strasbourg editions, where geographical information was given priority over embellishment.
Published after Fries’s death, the 1535 edition reused the original woodblocks first prepared for the editions of 1522 and 1525. Because comparatively few copies of the atlas survive, individual maps from the 1535 edition are considerably scarcer than those of the earlier printings. The Latin verso title, Tab. Mo. Germa., is an important bibliographical feature that identifies the 1535 edition. Fries’s atlas occupies an important place in the history of cartography, helping to spread the geographical advances of Martin Waldseemüller to a wider European audience.
Laurent Fries’s editions of Geographia
1st 1522 – Strasbourg – Johann Grüninger
2nd 1525 – Strasbourg – Johann Grüninger
3rd 1535 – Lyon – Melchior and Gaspar Trechsel
4th 1541 – Vienna – Gaspar Trechsel
References:
Shirley, R. The Mapping of the World Early Printed World Maps 1472-1700. London 1987: 74
Karrow, R. Mapmakers of the Sixteenth Century and their Maps. Bio-Bibliographies of the Cartographers of Abraham Ortelius, 1570. Chicago 1993: 38
Mickwitz & Miekkavaara, The A.E. Nordenskiold Collection of Maps up to 1800 Helsinki 1979-1995: pp. 63–69
Map Forum 7th issue, June 27, 2022, Fries.
