Gerard Mercator’s edition of Ptolemy’s ‘Geography’ is highly acclaimed; he spent much of his life studying the work and even engraved the plates himself. Shirley describes his world map as one of the finest available. Mercator is one of the world’s greatest cartographers and the ‘Claudii Ptolemaei Tabulae Geographicae Orbis Terrarum’ was first published in 1578. The strapwork surround present on the first edition is replaced in 1695 with decorative cartouches of the four elements of earth, fire, air and water in each corner. Koeman Me 5; Nordenskiold 234; Phillips, P.L. (Atlases) 384; Shirley, R.W. (World) #139; Shirley BL T.Ptol-11a & 11k; Van der Krogt, P. (Atlantes) 0900:1.1.