A very fine example of a rare incunable world map

Rare world map from the third edition of Ptolemy's Geography to include printed maps, the first to be printed in the vernacular and the first with 'modern' maps. Francesco Berlinghieri (1440-1501), an Italian scholar and humanist, started work on a revision of Ptolemy in 1464, updating the Ptolemiac maps, supplementing them with modern maps (France, Italy, Spain and the Holy Land) and writing a commentary in Italian verse. The maps were engraved by Niccolò Tedesco, a German printer, unusually with equidistant meridians and parallels, and rectangular borders rather than trapezoid. The completed work was published as 'Septe Giornate della Geographia di Francesco Berlinghieri' ('The Seven Days of Geography'). Around the edge are twelve named wind heads, all with long, flowing hair. On the map the Indian Ocean is completely land-locked: 'Terra Incognita' joins southern Africa and south east Asia.