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Antique World Map c. 1488 — Le Rouge, La mer des hystoires

Name: Antique World Map c. 1488 — Le Rouge, La mer des hystoires
Brand: Old Map Studio
SKU: LMECQ524N5934
Price: 14.9 USD
Availability: InStock

CODE: LMECQ524N5934

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Description

An antique circular world map from Paris, c. 1488

This round map of the world comes from leaf lxxi of La mer des hystoires, a book printed in Paris in 1488. Boston Public Library catalogs it under the name of the printer Pierre Le Rouge, who died in 1493, with the date [1488–1489] – the date is inferred – and describes it as hand colored, on a leaf of 63 × 41 cm.

The top of the right-hand page: the running head Feuillet lxxi – the leaf the library’s record names – and Asye above the rim of the circle. The left-hand page is headed Second aage. — The top of the right-hand page: the running head *Feuillet lxxi* – the leaf the library’s record names – and *Asye* above the rim of the circle. The left-hand page is headed *Second aage*.

The design goes back to an earlier book. The library’s record links this map to the 1475 Latin edition of the Rudimentum novitiorum and notes that the circular world map that appeared there and in its subsequent French translations “is considered the first printed map of the world.” The Rosenbach in Philadelphia, which keeps a copy of that 1475 book, says it was printed in Lübeck by Lucas Brandis and calls its map “the first printed world map (excluding very simple T-O diagrams of the earth).” In the Lübeck book the map is printed from two half-circle woodcuts, one on each page, with east rather than north at the top and Jerusalem at the center; the Rosenbach notes that priority is given to the spiritual importance of a place.

The middle of the circle falls in the gutter of the book, where it meets the line separating Asia, above, from Europe and Africa, below. Just above the line stand Iudee, on the left-hand page, and Palestina, on the right; just below it, Europe and Affrique. The library’s record calls Judea and Palestine the map’s central focus. — The middle of the circle falls in the gutter of the book, where it meets the line separating Asia, above, from Europe and Africa, below. Just above the line stand *Iudee*, on the left-hand page, and *Palestina*, on the right; just below it, *Europe* and *Affrique*. The library’s record calls Judea and Palestine the map’s central focus.

Boston Public Library keeps this leaf in its Rare Books Department as Q.402.51. The Norman B. Leventhal Map Center exhibited it in 2006 and again in 2018–2019, and the record cites the standard incunable bibliographies, including ISTC ir00346000, Goff, Copinger and Campbell’s Early maps, pp. 215–216. It carries no known copyright restrictions, and your file is made from the library’s digitized image.

In the Asian half of the circle, a tree with the faces of the sun and the moon in its crown; its three banners read, in French, “the tree of the sun and of the moon”.

Your file

Original	leaf lxxi of La mer des hystoires, [Paris], [1488–1489], Boston Public Library Q.402.51; hand colored, leaf 63 × 41 cm
Scan	full leaf 10880 × 7720 px; the round map inside the trimmed border 7568 × 7330 px
Print size at 300 dpi	the map prints to 64 cm (25 in), the full leaf with margins to 92 cm (36 in) – the difference is the rest of the book leaf around the round map
You download	six ZIP archives: full sheet, trimmed, 3:2, 4:3, 5:4 and ISO A
Inside each one	one JPEG at 300 dpi, the restoration passport as a PDF, a READ ME

How to print

At 300 dpi the round map prints to 64 cm. The trimmed archive gives the map alone; the full-sheet archive keeps the whole book leaf. Ask for matte fine-art paper in sRGB with auto-enhancement off.
Where to print it: print shops near you and checked prices at online labs.

Source and rights

The file is made from Boston Public Library’s digitized image of Q.402.51, for which the library states no known copyright restrictions. The record calls the leaf hand colored; it does not name the printing technique of this Paris leaf. There is no TIFF master in the package. Catalogue record: Leventhal Map & Education Center →

Every map is a scan of a real sheet held in a named archive — library, shelfmark and year, all stated. Nothing generated, nothing redrawn.