- Title: Tabula Terre Nove
- Author: Laurent Fries
- Date: 1525
- Medium: Copperplate engraving
- Condition: Very Good Plus - a superior example with lush inking, mild age toning, slight crease at centerfold
- Inches: 11 3/4 x 15 1/2 [Image]
- Centimeters: 29.85 x 39.37 [Image]
- Product ID: 315099
An early view of the Gulf of Mexico taken directly from Martin Waldseemüller's epic twelve-sheet Carta Marina map of the world, published 1516. In 1522, Laurent Fries published an edition of Ptolemy’s Geographica in which virtually all the maps, including this one, were reduced versions of Waldseemüller's. The present example is from the 1525 edition of Fries' Geographica, published in Strasburg, with the title lacking.
Some of the notable differences between Fries' and Waldseemüller's maps: Fries adds a Spanish flag over Cuba, as well as a scene in South America depicting cannibals and an opossum, both of which had been reported by Vespucci. Fries also incorrectly labels North America as Parias, referring the the Paria Peninsula in northern Venezuela. Here also Fries labels South America as Terra Nova, replacing Waldseemüller's Terra Incognita label. Additionally, Fries' map corrects inaccuracies in Waldseemüller's latitude markings. At a latitude of 40 degrees north on the map appears a peninsula connected to a gulf; some speculate that this is a depiction of Asia, but most argue it is one of the earliest images of the Gulf of Mexico on a printed map.