The BNE incorporates two works by Ptolemy and Janssonius into its funds

The “Geography of the Universal Old and New” by Sebastian Münster -an updated edition of the ‘Geography’ de Ptolomaeus-, edited in Basel in 1540, and the ‘New Atlas’ of John Janssonius; Published in Amsterdam in 1658 in eleven volumes, they are already in the funds of the National Library of Spain.

Both works have reached the institution thanks to the acquisition made in 2024 by the Board of Qualification, Valuation and Export of Assets of the Spanish Historical Heritage, as the BNE has indicated in a statement.

The first one, “Geography” Ptolemy (1540), is a real first edition of the astronomer’s work, made by Sebastian Münster. It represents a milestone in the history of cartography and in the dissemination of geographical knowledge in the 16th century.

Sebastian Münster was a German cosmograph, mathematician and geographer and his work in the edition of the work was “fundamental” to popularize and update the geographical knowledge of the time.

On the other hand, ‘Novus Atlas’ de Janssonius (1658) It is a complete monumental work printed in German in Amsterdam that is composed of eleven volumes with copper -engraved maps and colored times.

It represents one of the peak works of the 17th and fundamental cartography in the history of cartography for the quality and detail of its maps, for its wide diffusion in Europe, for its contribution to the development of modern cartography and by its value as historical testimony of the geography of the seventeenth century.