Rare map of Africa sells for £1,900

Published on 17/01/2013 00:38

A 450-YEAR-OLD map of Africa has been sold at auction for £1,900.

The folio-size map by cartographer Gerard de Jode (1509-1591) was sold by auctioneers Lyon & Turnbull to a collector at its saleroom in Edinburgh.

De Jode worked in Antwerp during the 1500s and his map is based on the eight-sheet Giacomo Gastaldi wall map of Africa of 1564. He reduced Gastaldi’s detailed work to one folio-sized map, omitting text passages and placenames.

Cathy Marsden, book specialist at Lyon & Turnbull, said: “In total, a dozen or so examples of his atlas are said to have survived. Consequently, all maps by Gerard de Jode are quite rare.”