SWEDEN

SWEDEN / SVERIGE.

Old maps.
Carta Marina, by Olaus Magnus (1572).
First stamp in a set of 6, issued in minisheet on 30.01.1991.
Face value: 5 Swedish krona.
Design: M. K.
Engraving by Czesław Słania (1921-2005).
Printing: Offset lithography and recess.
Print: 1,500,000 copies.

Catalogs
- AFA No. 1589.
- Facit No. 1672.
- Michel No. 1655.
- Scott No. 1861.
- StampWorld No. 1657.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 1557.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 1637.

Olaus Magnus (Olof Månsson), born in Östergötland in October 1490 and died in Rome on August 1, 1557, was a Swedish writer, cartographer and ecclesiastic, a pioneer in historical and anthropological work on northern Europe. His fundamental work was the Historia de Gentibus Septentrionalibus (A Description of the Northern Peoples), in 22 books, published in Rome in 1555; it deals with the geography, customs, traditions and legends of the Scandinavian peoples and of Nordic Europe. His Carta marina (Marine Chart) is the oldest and most correct map of Scandinavia. Its dimensions are 1.70 x 1.25 m (5.58 x 4.10 ft). It took him twelve years to make it, and it was first printed in Venice in 1539 (a 1572 reprint is reproduced on the stamp).