Lorenz (Laurent) Fries (ca. 1485-1532) was born in Mulhouse, Alsace. He studied medicine, apparently spending time at the universities of Pavia, Piacenza, Montpellier and Vienna. After completing his education, Fries worked as a physician in several places before settling in Strasbourg in about 1519. While in Strasbourg, Fries met the Strasbourg printer and publisher Johann Grüninger, an associate of the St. Dié group of scholars formed by, among others, Walter Lud, Matthias Ringmann and Martin Waldseemüller.
From 1520 to 1525, Fries worked with Grüninger as a cartographic editor, exploiting the corpus of material that Waldseemüller had created. Fries' first venture into mapmaking was in 1520, when he executed a reduction of Martin Waldseemüller's wall map of the world, first published in 1507. While it would appear that Fries was the editor of the map, credit is actually given in the title to Peter Apian. The map, Tipus Orbis Universalis Iuxta Ptolomei Cosmographi Traditionem Et Americ Vespucii Aliorque Lustrationes A Petro Apiano Leysnico Elucubrat. An.o Dni MDXX, was issued in Caius Julius Solinus' Enarrationes, edited by Camers, and published in Vienna in 1520.
Fries’ next project was a new edition of the Geographia of Claudius Ptolemy, which was published by Johann Grüninger in 1522. Fries evidently edited the maps, in most cases simply producing a reduction of the equivalent map from Waldseemüller's 1513 edition of the Geographie Opus Novissima, printed by Johann Schott. Fries also prepared three new maps for the Geographia, of Southeast Asia and the East Indies, China, and the world, but the geography of these derives from Waldseemüller's world map of 1507.
The 1522 edition of Fries' work is very rare, suggesting that the work was not commercially successful. In 1525, an improved edition was issued, with a re-edit of the text by Willibald Pirkheimer, from the notes of Regiomontanus (Johannes Müller von Königsberg).
After Grüninger's death in ca. 1531, the business was continued by his son Christoph, who seems to have sold the materials for the Ptolemy to two Lyon publishers, the brothers Melchior and Gaspar Trechsel, who published a joint edition in 1535, before Gaspar Trechsel published an edition in his own right in 1541.
The Earliest Obtainable World Map to Name America Striking example of the 1541 example of the earliest reasonably obtainable map of the World to include the name America in the map. While the majority of Lorenz Fries maps were derived from...
One of the Earliest Obtainable World Maps To Show America Rare early edition of Laurent Fries edition of Martin Waldseemuller's "Admiral's Map" of the World, from the 1525 edition of Claudii Ptolemaei Alexandrini Geographicae ...., first published in...
Decorative Map of the World Based Upon Claudius Ptolemy Finely colored example of this early 16th-century map of the World according to the ancients, surrounded by 12 wind heads representing the various wind directions. The map is drawn from the...
This is a reduced-sized facsimile of Lorenz Fries' 1530 Carta marina, probably related to the reproduction that was published in Munich in 1926. Fries began work on a re-issue of Martin Waldseemuller's famous 1516 wall map (likewise called Carta...
This facsimile reproduction of Lorenz Fries' 1530 Carta marina, published in Munich in 1926, is the only know large-scale facsimile of that important world map. Fries began work on a re-issue of Martin Waldseemuller's famous 1516 wall map (likewise...
Nice full color example of the 1541 edition of Fries' map of India and Southeast Asia, focusing on Southeast Asia, India, and Sri Lanka and the Indian Ocean. Fries' map is a reduced size version of Waldeseemuller's 1513 map, the earliest modern map to...
Rare early map of the region between northwestern Europe, extending south to the Danube River and east to the Vistula River, from the 1525 edition of Fries Geographia.
A Rare Early Fries Edition Detailed map of the region between the Baltic and Caspian Seas, from the 1525 edition of Fries Geographia. Lorenz (Laurent) Fries was born in Alsace in about 1490. He studied medicine, apparently spending time at the...
One of the Earliest Obtainable Modern Maps of Poland, European Russia, Hungary & Eastern Europe Important early modern map of Poland, Russia, Hungary and Transylvania, from the 1525 edition of Fries' Geographia. The publisher of this edition,...
Detailed map of the region north of Black Sea and west of the Caspian, from the 1535 edition of Fries Geographia. The publisher of this edition, Michael Villanovus (or Servetus), was tried by Calvin for heresy and burned at the stake with several of...
Rare Early Regional Map of Romania, Greece, etc. Nice example of the 1525 edition of Lorenz Fries map of the Balkans, Romania and northern Greece First published in Strasbourg by Johannes Gruninger in 1522, Fries map is based upon Waldseemuller's map...
Rare, Early Map of the Adriatic Based on Ptolemy’s Famous Geographia Nice example of Lorenz Fries’ map of part of the Adriatic and the Balkans from his 1535 edition of Claudius Ptolemy’s Geographia. The present map depicts part of Europe in the...
Nice example of the 1525 edition of Lorenz Fries map of Sicily and Sardinia. First published in Strasbourg by Johannes Gruninger in 1522, Fries map is based upon Waldseemuller's map of 1513.
Nice example of Fries map of the Iberian Peninsula. First published in Strasbourg by Johannes Gruninger in 1522, Fries map is based upon Waldseemuller's map of 1513.
Good example of the 1525 edition of Lorenz Fries modern map of the Spain & Portugal. First published in Strasbourg by Johannes Gruninger in 1522, Fries' map is based upon Waldseemuller's map of 1513.
An Early Edition of Fries Map of Greece Nice example of Lorenz Fries map of Greece and part of the Balkans, from his Geographia, first published in 1522. The publisher of this edition, Michael Villanovus (or Servetus), was tried by Calvin for heresy...