CHICAGO, (June 6, 2007) - Rediscover Ptolemy's Geography this fall and learn about its importance to modern cartography in a free exhibition at the Newberry Library. Ptolemy's Geography and Renaissance Mapmakers will showcase, for probably the first time, all 27 maps in the Ptolemaic canon in original Renaissance print editions.
"We will introduce the cartographic innovations of Ptolemy to a new audience with this exhibition and highlight the contributions of the great Renaissance mapmakers who edited his work," said Robert Karrow, one of the exhibit's curators and curator of maps at the Newberry Library.
The Geography is universally regarded as the single most important geographical book ever produced. After its translation into Latin in the fifteenth century, it exerted a profound influence on geographical thought and cartographic methods. The emergence of modern mathematically based cartography during the Renaissance was largely dependent upon the teachings of the Geography and its interpretation. But just as the Geography was profoundly influential on the way Europeans understood and represented the world, so too was it profoundly influenced by the world-changing events of its time, especially the geographical expansion of Europe, the rise of the book and map trade, and the emergence of the modern state.
"Ptolemy's Geography was the Google Earth of its day - a description of the entire habitable world as Ptolemy knew it," Karrow said.
Written in Greek, the first part of the Geography is a treatise on the drawing of maps. Claudius Ptolemy (ca 90-168), like all ancient astronomers, was perfectly aware that the earth was a sphere. He suggested two methods for constructing projections that would allow places to be plotted according to their latitude and longitude, and at least suggest the appearance of a curved surface.
The largest part of the Geography consisted of tables of coordinates for some 8,000 places all over the known Greek world. Ptolemy gave his coordinates in the form of degrees of latitude north or south of the equator and in degrees of longitude east of his prime meridian (the Fortunate Islands, now the Canaries).
By the late thirteenth century, Greek copies with maps were circulating in Constantinople, and the first Latin translation was finished about 1407. Soon, the Geography, and its maps, became widely popular and many manuscript copies were produced before the invention of printing. The first printed edition of the Geography to include maps was published in Bologna in 1477.
"Printing flourished during the Renaissance and visitors will be able to see the various techniques - such as woodcuts and copper engraving - used by some of the greatest mapmakers and printers who ever lived," Karrow said.
Visitors will also see the ways that Renaissance mapmakers took the basic geographic principles and structure of the Geography and expanded them into the beginnings of the modern atlas.
"Mapping by coordinates, as first done on a large scale by Ptolemy, remains at the heart of cartography," Karrow said. "All our modern maps, including our digital maps in cars, are simply refinements of his techniques."
Map Exhibitions Around the City
Ptolemy's Geography and Renaissance Mapmakers is part of the Festival of Maps, a Chicago-wide celebration of our use of maps throughout history. More than 25 cultural and scientific institutions have joined together to present this unique collaboration that features maps, globes, artifacts and artwork that track the evolving meaning of maps from ancient to modern times. The Festival of Maps begins in Chicago on Nov. 2, 2007 with the opening of The Field Museum and Newberry Library exhibition, Maps: Finding our Place in the World, and continues into 2008.
A second exhibit on maps will also be on display at the Newberry Library during the Festival. Mapping Manifest Destiny: Chicago and the American West examines the role of maps in envisioning the American West - documenting its terrain, fixing its boundaries, exploiting its natural resources and developing its land. The exhibition, featuring more than 60 historic maps and views from the sixteenth through the twentieth centuries, will explore the range of motivations for creating, distributing, and using maps of the American West.
Generous support for Ptolemy's Geography and Renaissance Mapmakers is provided by Christie's, the corporate sponsor of the exhibition.
About the Newberry Library
The Newberry Library, a preeminent humanities research and reference institution, is home to a world-class collection of books, manuscripts, maps, music, and other printed materials related to the history and culture of Western Europe and the Americas. The collections span many centuries and feature items such as illuminated medieval manuscripts, rare early maps, rich genealogical resources, and the personal papers of Midwest authors. The Newberry offers exhibitions based on its collections, musical and theatrical performances, lectures and discussions with today's leading humanists, seminars and workshops, and teacher programs.