This map represents the known world at the time of Claudius Ptolemy: the Roman Empire, centred on the Mediterranean Sea; Europe; North Africa; and Western Asia. The use of a conical projection acknowledges a spherical world, and an understanding that the map illustrates uninhabited or unknown regions. Ptolemy perpetuated the idea of a large southern continent ('Terra Australis') which counterbalanced the landmasses in the northern hemisphere and landlocked the Indian Ocean.

The Sunderland Collection

Finely engraved on copper, this is the second map known to be printed to the projection of Claudius Ptolemy. It expands to show Great Britain in the North to the Canary Islands in the South, west through Europe to the Islands of Fortune, and east across the Indian Ocean, Taprobana (modern-day Sri Lanka) and China.

The map shows a pioneering, semi-mechanical engraving technique called 'punch-lettering', which is important to both the history of cartography and the history of printing. The technique streamlined the work and tools of the engraver: it uses small rectangular steel 'punches' shaped into the form of a letter, then pressed onto the page. This technique gives the map a greater sense of uniformity as well as legibility, and the result provides a unique aesthetic.

This map was published both separately and within the first printed editions of Claudius Ptolemy’s 'Geographia'. It is the first known map to use the punch-lettering printing technique and marks a unique intersection between the histories of cartography and engraving. Punch-lettering uses small rectangular steel 'punches', carved at the tip into the shape of a letter, to impress text onto a page. This saved an incredible amount of labour in terms of both time and expense. This technique was likely developed for this map, and it lent to the maps' legibility, since it is so densely populated with information.

This work was published both separately and within the 1478 Rome edition of Claudius Ptolemy’s 'Geographia'. It was preceded only by the 1477 Bologna edition which is known in only a few copies. The pioneering, semi-mechanical engraving technique used to produced the map is important to both the history of cartography and the history of printing.

An Early Ptolemaic World Map