Gemma Fries’ ‘Cosmographia’ went through no fewer than forty-five editions, was published in four languages, and was manufactured in seven cities by at least eighteen printers. The accompanying world map was included in examples from 1544 onwards. Three woodcut blocks, from which the map was printed, have been identified. The current map is an impression of the first woodblock, with ‘Europa’ at an angle and the outline of Britain without a caption. The first woodblock was known to have been sent to Paris in 1551, and a new one cut for publication in Antwerp. In this issue of the first woodblock, the map is surrounded by text describing the nature and properties of the winds, included in a rare work, Antoine Du Pinet’s ‘Plantz, Pourtraitz et Descriptions de Plusieurs Villes’ (1564).

a Cosmographica’, prepared by Gemma Frisius, is one of the first maps to show the entire east coast of North America, depicted as a narrow landmass named ‘Baccalearum,’ after the cod fisheries off the coasts of New England and Canada. The map uses Apianus’s original cordiform projection and maintains the tantalising prospect of a northwest passage to Asia through the Arctic. The map is also notable for being the first printed map to depict the Yucatán as a peninsula rather than as an island, anticipating Girolamo Ruscelli’s 1561 map of New Spain. Cuba and Hispaniola are shown as huge islands. Many elements of Claudius Ptolemy’s geography remain as well such as the prominent Mountains of the Moon in North Africa, believed for centuries by Europeans to be the source of the Nile River Nile. 

The map is decorated with vignettes of animals, sailing ships and a mermaid. Signs of the zodiac and the Ptolemaic climatic zones border the map. The Greek god Zeus, and Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, are shown atop the map while windheads in the shape of skulls reflect contemporary beliefs that southern winds brought the plague. To the left of the map, ‘Climata Australia’ appears just south of the equator. While this is technically the first appearance of the name ‘Australia’ on a map, it refers to a climatic zone rather than a landmass.

 (1495–1552) studied at the University of Leipzig from 1516 to 1519, where he adopted the Latinised version of his German name. In 1519, he moved to Vienna, where he was part of the second Vienna School of 

, which included Georg Tannstetter and Johannes Cuspinianus. He was later appointed printer at the University of Ingolstadt and eventually to Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor to whom Apianus dedicated his most famous work, ‘Astronomicum Caesareum’, in 1540 (see SC-B-1540-Apianus-AstronomicumCaesareum)

Reinerus Gemma Frisius (1508–1555), was a Frisian cartographer, astronomer, mathematician, physician, and maker of scientific instruments. He studied at the University of Louvain and was appointed professor of medicine there in 1541. His first work, ‘De Principiis Astronomiae et Cosmographiae’ (1530), attempted to establish longitude by proposing the use of a marine chronometer (essentially a portable clock), a then impractical concept that would only be realized two centuries later. Frisius published his first edition of Apianus’s ‘Cosmographia’ with his own ‘Libellus de Locorum Describendorum Ratione’ in 1533. His ‘

a Cosmographica’, the source of this world map, was first published in 1540, and began to accompany editions of Frisius' ‘Cartographia’ from 1544 onwards. Other works include ‘De Astrolabio’ (1556), and his blockbuster: ‘Arithmeticae Practicae Methodus Facilis’ (1540), which was reprinted more than fifty times during the sixteenth century.

This cosmographic map was created by Gemma Frisius (based on an earlier map by 

) and blends classical cartography with the latest knowledge from European exploration. It is also notable as the first map to employ the term ‘Australia’ and one of the earliest to show the entire eastern seaboard of North America. 
The map is packed with engaging decoration characteristic of the High Renaissance. The borders swirl with energetic clouds and windheads; the southern, plague-bearing winds characterised by grinning skulls. Atop the map, the Greek god Zeus and Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, gaze down on the terrestrial sphere populated by ships, sea monsters, and other characters. The map is framed by signs of the zodiac and classical climate zones.

’s reduced world map, and the first map to employ the term “Australia”.

Fries' Cordiform World Map, with winds after Apianus