Tabvla Evropae V - Sebastian Münster, 1552. (Map In Color)
This map gives you an early 16th century view of Italy and the Adriatic Sea. The Italian peninsula, Corsica and the Balkan coast sit on a warm parchment style background, with deep blue water and simple engraved lines. It has a quiet, old-world feel that works well next to books, dark wood and brass in a study or library.
About this map printTabvla Evropae V is a Ptolemaic map of Italy, Corsica and the surrounding Adriatic and Balkan coast by Sebastian Münster. It was printed in Basel for his edition of Claudius Ptolemy’s Geographia, where it appears as the fifth map of Europe. The sheet shows the region the way Roman geographers imagined it: provinces such as Rhaetia, Vindelicia, Noricum and Illyricum are named, and the north of the Mediterranean is drawn in a compact trapezoid shape instead of a modern coastline.
The style comes straight from the Ptolemaic tradition, with strong outlines, Latin labels and a clear frame around the sea. You can see how it belongs to the same world as your Ptolemaic World Map by Münster, but here the focus is tighter on Italy and the Adriatic instead of the whole inhabited world. Compared with later Europe maps like Ortelius’s Europae, this map feels older and more geometric, which makes the differences in shape and detail easy to spot.
Craft & finishThis antique map print is made on hand processed paper, with subtle gold highlights and a beeswax finish so it feels close to real parchment when you hold it. The surface catches the light softly, but colors can look a little different from screen to screen.
Find more prints like this in our Antique Maps collection.
Tabvla Evropae V (Sebastian Münster, 1552.) - Antique Italy Map
In case your print creases during the travel, as it usually does travel for some time, you can safely warm it up with a hair-dryer, and the wax will melt back right into it. You can also use a lighter, which is a much faster method, but be careful to keep the flame either above the paper or parallel to it (which means holding the paper vertically) so it doesn't smudge or even catch fire. The chance of the print actually creasing is very small, as they are rolled in bubble-wrap and shipped in a cardboard box. Also, be sure to keep the print out of the direct sunlight, as it can melt or fade.
Visit the link below to see more about how our replicas are made, how to display them, and repair the damage:
https://www.artifex-replicas.com/post/about-our-parchment-replicas
