• Title : Tabula noua Helvetiae
• Ref #:  17008
• Size: 18 1/2in x 15in (475mm x 380mm)
• Date : 1541
• Condition: (A+) Fine Condition

Description:
This rare, very early original hand coloured wood-block engraved antique Ptolemaic map of Switzerland by Laurent Fries was published by Trechsel, Gaspar; Vienne, Dauphine in the 1541 Lyon edition of Ptolemys Geographia, Claudii Ptolemaei Alexandrini Geographicae Enarrationis, Libri Octo

General Definitions:
Paper thickness and quality: - Heavy and stable
Paper color : - off white
Age of map color: - Early
Colors used: - Yellow, orange
General color appearance: - Authentic
Paper size: - 18 1/2in x 15in (475mm x 380mm)
Plate size: - 18 1/2in x 15in (475mm x 380mm)
Margins: - Min 1in (25mm)

Imperfections:
Margins: - Small repair to top margin in title
Plate area: - None
Verso: - None

Background:
The first printed map of Switzerland was published in Martin Waldseemuller's edition of Ptolemy in Strasbourg in 1513, but the manuscript map by Konrad Turst (1497) drawn to scale was a splendid first achievement for its time. Also the research of Vadianus at St Gallen University produced notable work, and along with the Germanic influence in Basle, which became part of the Swiss Confederation in 1501, and the highly developed wood engraving skills there, were important factors in European map publishing.
The almost endless editions of Sebastian Munster's Cosmographia were published in Basle from 1540 for nearly a century and Zurich can claim to have published the first national atlas produced anywhere -that of Johann Stumpf in 1548-52.
By comparison with her larger neighbours, Germany and Italy, Switzerland is considered not to have made a major contribution to Cartographic history. But over the years this has been contradicted, especially starting in the sixteenth century. In the second half of the sixteenth century many maps of the Swiss Cantons, in manuscript or woodcuts appeared, but the mountainous nature of the country produced its own mapping problems and imposed a need for large-scale surveys as well as practical and effective methods of showing land surfaces in relief. Early in the seventeenth century Hans Gyger perfected new ways of doing this but although he published a wide range of very large-scale maps of the cantons and of Switzerland as a whole his techniques did not receive the credit they deserved. On the other hand, his countrymen followed his example of compiling large-scale maps for which they have always been noted for up until the present day. (Ref: Koeman; M&B)