This very large beautifully hand coloured original antique map of Scandinavia was published by Laurie & Whittle in 1794 - the date is engraved in the title cartouche.

Before the fifteenth century the peoples of Southern Europe had little geographical knowledge of the Scandinavian world except from sketchy detail shown in the Catalan Atlas (1375) and on a number of 'portolani' embracing Denmark and the southern tip of Norway. It was not until 1427 that a manuscript map prepared about that time by Claudius Clavus (b. 1388), a Dane who had spent some time in Rome, made available to scholars a tolerable outline of the northern countries and Greenland. That was to remain the best map available for the rest of the century and it was used as the basis for maps of Scandinavia in early printed editions of Ptolemy. Others by Nicolaus Cusanus (1491) and Ehrhard Etzlaub (c. 1492) followed but, needless to say, these are extremely rare; even the later maps by Olaus Magnus and Marcus Jordan, where they have survived at all, are known only by very few examples. In fact, apart from the rare appearance of an early Ptolemy map, the oldest of Scandinavia which a collector is likely to find are those in Munster's Cosmography published in 1544 with many later editions. In the following centuries the comparatively few maps and charts compiled in Scandinavia were usually published in Amsterdam, Antwerp, Paris or Nuremberg, the more important maps often being incorporated in the major Dutch, French and German atlases. (Ref Tooley M&B)

General Description:
Paper thickness and quality: - Heavy and stable
Paper color: - off white
Age of map color: - Original
Colors used: - Pink, red, yellow, blue
General color appearance: - Authentic
Paper size: - 29in x 21 ½in (740mm x 545mm)
Plate size: - 26 ½in x 19 ½in (670mm x 495mm)
Margins: - Min 1in (25mm)

Imperfections:
Margins: - None
Plate area: - Light age toning along centerfold
Verso: - None

70145