by Hildegard Binder Johnson
Includes original glassine cover. Includes separate map, in pristine condition. In 1507, the city of Strasbourg, on the border between France and Germany, was one of Europe’s most important centers of publishing and scholarship. That year, Martin Waldseemüller published a radical new map, one that incorporated the most recent science and discoveries by explorers like Columbus—it was the first map to actually use the word “America.” Though a thousand copies were printed, only one is thought to remain today, and for some reason (perhaps because new discoveries and mapping techniques were coming so thick and fast) it did not seem to have much influence on the maps that were soon to follow. But Strassbourg printer Johannes Grüninger kept it in mind, and thought of a way to make money off of it. In 1525, he revised it, updated it with the discoveries of the Portuguese explorers and traders, printed the huge wall map in 12 smaller interlocking sheets that could be mounted together on a wall, and commissioned Lorenz Fries to write a no-nonsense guide particularly designed to help merchants learn about these mysterious new lands and generally make sense of it all…right down to how to fit the pages of the map together. Geography professor Hildegard Binder Johnson took that publication and put it in context in her book Carta Marina: World Geography in Strassburg, 1525. Here she tells us not only about the map itself, but about the city, the wider culture, about the publishing and cartography trades of the time, and about Grüninger and Fries. Though our copy is a very good first edition from 1963, the separate map that is included and which sits in its own pocket inside the back cover is absolutely pristine and in brand-new condition.

Published in 1963 by University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis
ISBN: 0837173108
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardcover
Condition: Very good
Comments: Includes original glassine cover. Includes separate map, in pristine condition. The book itself is tight and clean inside but the cover does show its age a bit: there is some rubbing on the edges and light chipping on the spine and on the spine of the original glassine cover.
Library of Congress note on catalog entry: "Bibliographical references included in "Notes" (p. 119-150)"

Seller Inventory #: 0000171