Marrin's Bookshop

Synopsis

The man who mapped the planet.

Item Description

FIRST EDITION. 8vo. 9.5 x 6.5 inches. xiii + [i] + 348 pp. Bound in original blue cloth, gilt, in unclipped pictorial dust wrapper. some wear to extremities including mark along spine and slight sunning of lower edge; otherwise a very good copy. Illustrated by 16 pages of colour plates and by 22 text figures including whole page and maps. Map endpapers. Account of the life and work of Gerhard Mercator (1512-94), Flemish geographer, cartographer and cosmographer. His projection of 1569 was the first successful two dimensional map of the globe. It revolutionised navigation and became the most common world view to this day.