Antique Maps by Lienhart Holle

Lienhart Holle, also mentioned under the name Leonhart Holl, is considered as the third book printer of the city of Ulm. It is very little known about his life. At least is it verified that he was active in Ulm from 1478 onward.

At the beginning of his activity as a printer he published playing cards. Between 1482 and 1484 several outstanding works of early book printing have been produced in his printing shop. His masterpiece is considered the first atlas printed north of the Alps. The outstanding features of this atlas is extraordinary: The largest Antiqua typeface of the incunabula time, paper of unusual size and strength from Milan and 27 woodcut maps with stunning color. It is the first atlas printed with accompanying text on the verso of the maps and the first atlas with woodcut maps in general.

The blue pigment used by Holle for the colouration of the seas is most probably lapis lazuli, the ultramarine of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. The price per ounce for the rich blue pigment during the Renaissance correlated with that of gold and was extracted in western Afghanistan.

The exorbitant cost of the production of the atlas led to the bankruptcy of his printing operation. The woodblocks of the maps, the remaining paper and the types passed to Johann Reger, who reissued the atlas in 1486 in a second edition. The colouring of the seas was done with a cheaper brown pigment in the 1486 edition of Reger. Also some of the maps of the second edition can be identified by an additional title on top.

Lienhart Holle died after the year 1492.

  • Lienhart Holle:  Secunda Europe Tabula

    Johann Reger, Ulm, 1486

    One of the earliest obtainable maps of the Iberian Peninsula and Balearic Islands.Very rare old colored woodcut map of Spain and Portugal from the 15th century. From the second edition of...

    Secunda Europe Tabula
    1486 - Lienhart Holle
    12853

    15th Century Map of Spain and Portugal. Printed in 1486 in Ulm by Johann Reger.

    12 000,00 €
  • Lienhart Holle:  [Sexta Asie Tabula, Arabia Felix]

    Lienhart Holle, Ulm, July 1482

    One of the earliest obtainable and most desirable printed maps of Arabia. From the first Ulm edition of 1482.Probably the most beautiful map of the Arabian peninsula and the most...

    [Sexta Asie Tabula, Arabia Felix]
    1482 - Lienhart Holle
    11477

    First Edition of an important 15th Century Map of Arabia. Printed in July 1482 in Ulm by Lienhard Holle. After the Manuscript of Donnus Nicolaus Germanus.

  • Lienhart Holle:  [Secunda Affrice tabula continet Affricam & insulae que circa ipsam sunt Parallel]

    Lienhart Holle, Ulm, July 1482

    One of the earliest obtainable printed maps of North Africa. From the first Ulm edition of 1482.Untitled woodcut map, showing present-day Libya, Tunisia, Sardinia and Sicily based upon...

    [Secunda Affrice tabula continet Affricam & insulae que circa ipsam sunt...
    1482 - Lienhart Holle
    11524

    First Edition of an Important 15th Century Map of North Africa with Sardinia and Sicily. Printed in July 1482 in Ulm by Lienhard Holle.

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