Book on Navigation

Description Exhibitions Provenance Credit

Description Originally composed in 932 AH/AD 1525 and dedicated to Sultan Süleyman I ("The Magnificent"), this great work by Piri Reis (d. 962 AH/AD 1555) on navigation was later revised and expanded. Walters manuscript W.658, made mostly in the late 11th century AH/AD 17th, is based on the later expanded version and has some 240 exquisitely executed maps and portolan charts. They include a world map (fol. 41a) with the outline of the Americas, as well as maps of coastlines (bays, capes, peninsulas), islands, mountains, and cities of the Mediterranean basin and the Black Sea. The work starts with the description of the coastline of Anatolia and the islands of the Aegean Sea, the Peloponnese peninsula, and the eastern and western coasts of the Adriatic Sea. It then proceeds to describe the western shores of Italy, southern France, Spain, North Africa, Palestine, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, western Anatolia, various islands north of Crete, the Sea of Marmara, Bosporus, and the Black Sea. It ends with a map of the shores of the Caspian Sea (fol. 374a).

Exhibitions

Expanding World Views: A Millennium of Maps. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. 2001-2002.
Maps: Finding Our Place in the World. The Field Museum, Chicago; The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. 2007-2008.
Poetry and Prayer: Islamic Manuscripts from the Walters Art Museum. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. 2010.
Egypt’s Mysterious Book of the Faiyum. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. 2013-2015.

Provenance Ahmad Afandi [date and mode of acquisition unknown] [see folio 4a]; Ali Afandi [date and mode of acquisiton unknown] [see folio 4a]; Sayyid Ali Qapudan [date and mode of acquisition unknown] [see folio 1a]; Sultan Mahmud Khan [date and mode of acquistion unknown] [waqf seal and followed by a bequest statement (now erased), and the seal of the inspector of wakfs, Mustafá Tahir, see folio 4a]; Henry Walters, Baltimore [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Credit Acquired by Henry Walters

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Creator

Piri Reis (Author)

Period

late 11th century AH/AD 17th century-early 12th century AH/AD 18th century (Ottoman)

Medium

ink and pigments on laid European paper bound between boards covered with red leather with gold
(Manuscripts & Rare Books)

Accession Number

W.658

Measurements

Folio H: 13 3/8 x W: 9 7/16 in. (34 x 24 cm); H open in cradle at 0°: 18 1/4 x 14 1/4 x 8 1/2 in. (46.36 x 36.2 x 21.59 cm); H open in cradle at 10°: 18 1/4 x 13 3/4 x 10 in. (46.36 x 34.93 x 25.4 cm)

Geographies

Turkey (Place of Origin)

Location Within Museum

Not On View

Binding from Book on Navigation	Title
n.d.	Period
W.658.binding	Accession
pirireis	Tags

Map of the Islands of Skyros and Euboea	Title
late 11th century AH/AD 17th century-early 12th century AH/AD 18th century (Ottoman)	Period
W.658.56A	Accession

Map of the River Nile From Its Estuary South	Title
late 11th century AH/AD 17th century-early 12th century AH/AD 18th century (Ottoman)	Period
W.658.304B	Accession

The City of Cairo	Title
late 11th century AH/AD 17th century-early 12th century AH/AD 18th century (Ottoman)	Period
W.658.305A	Accession

Map of the Eastern Part of the City of Venice	Title
late 11th century AH/AD 17th century-early 12th century AH/AD 18th century (Ottoman)	Period
W.658.185B	Accession

Map of the Western Part of the City of Venice	Title
late 11th century AH/AD 17th century-early 12th century AH/AD 18th century (Ottoman)	Period
W.658.186A	Accession

Map of the Algerian Coast From Algiers to Bejaia	Title
late 11th century AH/AD 17th century-early 12th century AH/AD 18th century (Ottoman)	Period
W.658.271B	Accession

Map of the City of Constantinople	Title
late 11th century AH/AD 17th century-early 12th century AH/AD 18th century (Ottoman)	Period
W.658.370B	Accession

Oval World Map	Title
late 11th century AH/AD 17th century-early 12th century AH/AD 18th century (Ottoman)	Period
W.658.41A	Accession

World Map in a Double Hemisphere	Title
late 11th century AH/AD 17th century-early 12th century AH/AD 18th century (Ottoman)	Period
W.658.40B	Accession

Map of the Coastline of the Western Aegean Sea as Far South as the Island of Euboea	Title
late 11th century AH/AD 17th century-early 12th century AH/AD 18th century (Ottoman)	Period
W.658.63A	Accession

Map of the Islands of the Aegean Sea Including Chios, Cos, Rhodes and Crete	Title
late 11th century AH/AD 17th century-early 12th century AH/AD 18th century (Ottoman)	Period
W.658.101A	Accession

Map of the Northeastern Tip of Rhodes Island Facing the Anatolian Coast with the Island of Syme	Title
late 11th century AH/AD 17th century-early 12th century AH/AD 18th century (Ottoman)	Period
W.658.100B	Accession

Map of the Methana Fortress in the Saronikos Bay	Title
late 11th century AH/AD 17th century-early 12th century AH/AD 18th century (Ottoman)	Period
W.658.130B	Accession

Map of Messiniakos Bay	Title
late 11th century AH/AD 17th century-early 12th century AH/AD 18th century (Ottoman)	Period
W.658.129A	Accession

Leaf from Book on Navigation	Title
late 11th century AH/AD 17th century-early 12th century AH/AD 18th century (Ottoman)	Period
W.658.186B	Accession

Map of the Anatolian Coast as Far as Alanya	Title
late 11th century AH/AD 17th century-early 12th century AH/AD 18th century (Ottoman)	Period
W.658.328A	Accession

Map of the Coastline of the Black Sea	Title
late 11th century AH/AD 17th century-early 12th century AH/AD 18th century (Ottoman)	Period
W.658.371B	Accession

Map of the Crimea, the Sea of Azov, and the Mouth of the Dnieper	Title
late 11th century AH/AD 17th century-early 12th century AH/AD 18th century (Ottoman)	Period
W.658.372A	Accession

Illuminated Headpiece and Frame	Title
late 11th century AH/AD 17th century-early 12th century AH/AD 18th century (Ottoman)	Period
W.658.4B	Accession

Oval Map of the World	Title
late 11th century AH/AD 17th century-early 12th century AH/AD 18th century (Ottoman)	Period
W.658.23B	Accession