In 1522 Laurent Fries published an edition of Ptolemy’s Geography in which virtually all of the maps, including this one, were reduced versions of Martin Waldseemüller’s, 1513. Because Waldseemüller’s work was such a lavish production Fries thought that there might be a ready market for a more manageable reduced sized edition. It was however no direct copy. A new world map was introduced and new ones of Asia. By 1535 Fries had died and the wood blocks found their way into the possession of Melchoir and Gaspar Treschel. For this edition published in Lyon the brothers asked Michael Servetus (1511-53) to re-edit the text. A scientist of some note he was the first to describe pulmonary circulation and a true polymath. He died at the order of the Protestant governing council in Geneva by being burnt at the stake. Most of the maps bear text on the verso set within ornate woodcut border decoration which are said to be the work of Hans Holbein (c.1497-1543) and Urs Graf (c.1485-1528). Karrow no. 28 pp. 191-99; Nordenskiöld 209; Pastoureau Ptolemee E 1535; Phillips, Atlases 364; Sabin 66483; Shirley BL T.Ptol 7d.