In total, four editions of the ‘Geogrophia’ with 

’ maps appeared, all printed from the same woodblocks. A peculiarity of the 1541 edition is the missing text on verso of some of the ‘modern’ maps. These edits were made after Servetus had been charged with heresy and his previous work came under scrutiny. Many of the first three editions were burned, along with Michael Servetus, and are especially rare today. 

’ is divided into three parts: an introduction by Michael Servetus followed by Willibald Pirckheimer’s Latin translation of Claudius Ptolemy; an atlas of fifty maps; and a comprehensive index. 

The maps in the second part of the work, with the exception of ‘Quinta Asie Tabula’, are printed from the same woodblocks that were created by 

 for the 1522 edition of Claudius Ptolemy’s ‘

 (1470–1520). The maps are all drawn on the trapezoid projection developed by the German cartographer Nicolaus Germanus (1420–1490) in 1460. Twenty-seven of the ‘old world’ maps are drawn according to Ptolemaic theory, and a further twenty-three ‘modern’ maps have been added, which incorporate contemporary knowledge.

The maps of the ‘modern’ section were copied by 

, on a reduced format, from the maps prepared by Waldseemüller for the 1513 Strasbourg edition of Ptolemy’s ‘

’ (see SC-TM-1513-Waldseemuller-PWorldMap), and accordingly contains updated maps of North America and the West Indies, Lorraine, Switzerland, Crete, North Africa, southern Africa, southern Asia, and the world. To that group, in 1522, Fries added three entirely new maps, one of Southeast Asia and the East Indies, another of China and Japan, and a new world map title ‘Orbis Typus Universalis’ which uses the name ‘America’ to describe the 

. This is the first use of the appellation on a map in a Ptolemy atlas. The map of Southeast Asia and the map of China and Japan are the first individual maps of these regions ever printed. 

, a physician in Strasbourg, met the printer and publisher Johann Grüninger, who had worked with 

 for his 1513 edition of Claudius Ptolemy’s ‘

’. In 1522, Fries and Grüninger worked together on Fries’s own edition of the ‘

’, in which nearly all the maps were copied from Waldseemüller’s atlas. However, they added three new maps of China and Japan, Southeast Asia, and a new world map titled ‘Orbis Typus Universalis’.

This is the fourth edition of Fries’ ‘

’ and the second to include the updated Latin translation by Willibald Pirckheimer (1470–1530) edited by Michael Villanovanus, better known as Servetus (1511–1553). Servetus wrote the preface and many of the modern descriptions for the versos of the maps for an earlier 1535 edition, some of which were redacted in the 1541 edition after Servetus was accused of heresy. 

This atlas is especially notable as the second Michael Servetus edition of Claudius Ptolemy’s ‘

’ in which some of the texts were redacted following accusations of heresy by church officials. Servetus would ultimately be executed twelve years after its publication. 

The maps of this edition are printed from the same woodblocks that were created by 

’. These in turn were reductions of the famous maps of 

’s 1513 edition. Spanning decades of revision and reproduction, the atlas is an amalgam of traditional and new cartography.

This work is also notable for a full-page woodcut armillary sphere contributed by 

For his writings against the Holy Trinity and infant baptism, Michael Servetus was burnt at the stake in 1553. There were forty counts of heresy against him, including the offence of having asserted, in the text of the '

' that Palestine was not as fertile as it was generally believed, a passage expunged from the current edition, and not actually written by Servetus. Rather, it had been contributed by from Pirckheimer and appeared previously in 

’ 1522 and 1525 editions. Nevertheless, many examples of the book were burned with him on the orders of John Calvin.

Ptolemaic map of Europe, Spain

Ptolemaic map of Europe, French Gaul 

Ptolemaic map of Europe, Germany

Ptolemaic map of Slovenia and part of Italy

Ptolemaic map of Italy

Ptolemaic map of Sardinia and Sicily 

Ptolemaic map of the Northeast including Poland, the Baltic, Russia, Ukraine 

Ptolemaic map of the Balkans including Romania, Bulgaria, Macedonia

Ptolemaic map of Greece including Macedonia, Crete and Cyprus 

Ptolemaic map of northwest Africa and the Balearic Islands and the western Mediterranean 

Ptolemaic map of the North of Central Africa including Libya, Tunisia and the Mediterranean Sea

Ptolemaic map of Egypt

Ptolemaic map of central Africa including Ethiopia, Libya, and Egypt

Ptolemaic map  of Turkey and Cyprus 

Ptolemaic map  of Samaria (Black Sea region)

Ptolemaic map of Caspian Sea including Armenia, Turkey, and Georgia 

Ptolemaic map of Palestine, Syria, and Cyprus

Ptolemaic map of modern Iran 

Ptolemaic map of modern Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Oman

Ptolemaic map of modern Russia, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan 

Ptolemaic map of modern China and Mongolia 

Ptolemaic map of modern Pakistan and Afghanistan 

Ptolemaic map of modern India 

Ptolemaic map of Southeast Asia

Ptolemaic map of modern Sri Lanka 

Ptolemaic world map with windheads

Map of the 'New World' and part of west Africa

Ptolemaic map of the British Isles

Ptolemaic  map of Spain

Ptolemaic map of Gaul

Ptolemaic map of Germany

Map of Hungary and Poland 

Map of Scandinavia 

Map of Italy, Sicily, Sardinia 

Map of Italy Ptolemaic map of Europe 

Ptolemaic map of Northwest Africa and the Balearic Islands and the western Mediterranean 

Map of South Africa

New map of Asia 

Map of the Mediterranean 

A new map of eastern and southern India

Map of the Indian Ocean

New map of India 

Map of Switzerland

Map of the Rhine

New map of Canada

Tripartite world map

World map with rhumb lines: the "Admiral's Map"

A fine example of the second Michael Servetus edition of Claudius Ptolemy’s ‘

’, in which some of the text on the verso of the maps has been redacted, for fear of religious persecution.

Folio, 3 parts in one volume; double-page woodcut map of the old world, 26 double-page regional maps of the old world, 2 of the modern world, 20 double-page new regional maps and one full-page, text with 2 full-page woodcuts of a diagram and armillary sphere showing the projection of the winds by 

, 4 large woodcut diagrams, woodcut initials.

The eighth book of the exposition of Claudius Ptolemy of Alexandria's Geographia

Claudii Ptolemaei Alexandrini Geographicae Enarrationis, Libri Octo


Wilibald Pirckheimer; Michael Villanovanus, known as “Servetus”