This is the tabula representing the “classic”areas of the Alps Northern side, of Balkans and of the Danubian region, that is a complement of the of the famous Ulma edition of Ptolemy’s Geography, named Cosmographia with the Latin translation.
This work replicates with few variations Jacobus Angelus’ translation (1409) and it is featured in the cartographic representation of Dominus Nicolaus Germanus’ (Nicholas the German) manuscript. He was a German humanist, who lived in Italy in the second half of the XV century.
The first edition came out on 16th July 1482 and it was reprinted in 1486.
In his work merged the maps of the so-called third handwritten redaction of the Ptolemy’s manuscripts, that were looked after by Germanus; it includes 32 maps (the original 27 maps with the addition of modern maps of Spain, France, Italy, Scandinavia and Palestine).
The tabula here is the fifth of the European ancient maps.

It has not been possible to establish if it belonged to a copy of the original edition or to a reprint because the maps are exactly the same.
It’s a wood carved print, with the cartographic drawing framed by a trapezoid. Size: 24,5 x 46,7 and 24,5 x 42,3 cm.
This last one is delimited between 42°N and 48°N, and even 30°E and 47°E.
Borders are graduated 1°by 1°.
Paper has no title and information neither about the author nor the year of printing.
Only inside the frame there the names of the represented regions, for example: ITALIE PARS, RECIA,VINDELITIA, NORICVUM, PANNONIA SUPERIOR, PANNONIA INFERIOR, ILLIRIS ET LIBURNIA, DALMATIA.
Outside the frame you can observe captions about Ptolemaic climates, about the length of insolation at different latitudes and about the main parallels of the classic geography.
There is no scale and the orientation is standard.
As Lago [1998] has already noticed, the printing has been partially coloured and successively, again decorated with miniatures.
Actually a first hand, neither very skilled nor very accurate, has painted seas and the most important rivers in dark blue, Dalmatia and Noricum in ochre, southern Germany and Dacia in mustard-yellow.
Unfortunately in various points blue colour does not remain in the coast line obstructing toponyms’ reading; it doesn’t follow the course of the rivers, at the origin defined with simple black lines.
A second has added the little miniatures in prospect of some big cities, more precisely eleven, that are really accurate and marked in brown, red and black.
They include fortified cities, rich in towers and and belfries with a very sharp roof and showing a more medieval and nordic architecture than an Italian and Renaissance one. Close to the miniature,there is the toponym painted in red with a  brush.
The writing and the shapes of these toponyms make us able to establish that the addition of the little prospects is datable to the first half of XVI century and that the author is Italian.
Among the added toponyms it’s possible reading: Ulma, Uiena, Buda (Budapest), Belgrade, Dubrovnik (Ragusa), Pola..
One should indicate that the images are overly big and they cover a large portion of the cartographic drawing, obstructing the reading, whereas the other human sites keep the original symbol, a simple empty circle.
The most part of the indications is printed in Gothic.
This map shows Italy until Naples latitude, transalpine regions of Danube basin and western Balkan area over the superior and medium course of Danube and Moravia. Italy is rather poor in geographic elements: about rivers only Arnus fl. and Tiber fl. are printed and about cities only ten are cited (Genua, Mediolanum, Venecia, Vrbs Roma…), all written in Latin toponym.
The Italian peninsula extends from west-north-west to east-south-east and this incorrect alignment reflects on the one of the overlooking Balkan coast.
Adriatic northern shoreline are very badly drawn and Istria is poorly outlined as a peninsula.
Few are the human settlements just as the toponyms, not always readable because of the overlay of Pola small miniature.
The only visible sites are tarsatica (Rijeka), flauona (Fianona, Plomin), luona (Albona), crepsa insula (Cres) and in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, just a thin strip between the Alps and the sea, is marked , iulium marniacu[m], evident distortion of Iulium Carnicum (Zuglio).
In the Liburnian and Dalmatian areas the topography increases as we go to the south, until the straight bound with Macedonie pars.
Inside SINVUS ADRIATICVUS (Adriatic Sea) only few islands are mapped.

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