I’m currently reading Island of Lost Maps (WorldCat) and I came to the point in the book where the author mentions that a version of Ptolemy’s Geographia sells for over a million dollars. I searched and found a reproduction of Ptolemaeus Munster Geographia, 1540 (WorldCat), that was printed in 1966. I’m having so much fun trying to place current cities on the old maps.
I believe Treva is modern day Hamburg
Monsters at the edges of the map
India and the rest of the Orient
Detail of the edge of the world
Terrific stuff! If this book excites you like it excites me, I recommend you check out Colin McEvedy’s series of historical atlases. There are several (ancient, medieval, modern, recent, etc.), and each features (mostly-European) maps on the right hand pages, and tight, pithy prose on the left. It’s a real pleasure to page through these books and watch history unfold.
“The New Penguin Atlas of Ancient History: Revised Edition” would be the volume that lines up with the Ptolemaic maps.
ISBN 0140513485.
Ooh, more mappy goodness. Thanks for the tips.
The other side of that is a song written from a dragon’s point of view, called “Here be Cartographers”, by Benjamin Newman:
http://www.sccs.swarthmore.edu/users/01/bnewman/songs/lyrics/HereBeCartographers.txt (lyrics)
http://www.sccs.swarthmore.edu/users/01/bnewman/songs/music/HereBeCartographers.mp3 (audio)
Wow, that’s quite a find! I love looking at old maps :D
I love old books with maps. It makes the story seem more real. Rather than fiction it is just something that got forgotten with time.