The first map devoted to the Arctic is also the strangest here. Mercator, with no traveler ever to have reached it, filled the Pole from legend: a colossal black magnetic rock — the Rupes Nigra — standing at the exact top of the world, ringed by four islands and four great rivers rushing inward to a whirlpool that swallowed the polar sea. It is a map of pure imagination pretending to be science, and all the more magical for it. The unknown, rendered with a straight face.

Maker: Gerardus Mercator
Date: 1595
Medium of the original: Plate
Original held by: Published in Mercator's Atlas
Credit: Published in Mercator's Atlas
Rights: Public domain, verified
Catalogue number: PA-00329

As chosen: 24 x 18 in, art print, classic frame
Picture	24 x 18 in
Outside size	25.6 x 19.6 in
Depth	0.9 in (22 mm)
Weight	[[REAL PROOF NEEDED: shipped weight per size and frame]]
Hanging	[[REAL PROOF NEEDED: hanging hardware Prodigi fits to this frame]]
Material	Enhanced matte art paper, 200 gsm; acrylic glazing
Made in	Charlotte, North Carolina, by Prodigi

Before a size goes on sale, the file is measured against it: pixels per inch at that size, how much of the picture a crop would lose, tone and sharpness. A size that fails is not offered, so there is nothing to choose wrong.

How the print check works

Sizes offered
Size	dpi	Grade	How it fits
10 x 8 in	639	Excellent	Trimmed 2.8%
14 x 11 in	465	Excellent	Trimmed 1%
16 x 12 in	411	Excellent	Trimmed 3.5%
20 x 16 in	319	Excellent	Trimmed 2.8%
24 x 18 in	274	Excellent	Trimmed 3.5%
30 x 24 in	213	Excellent	Trimmed 2.8%
40 x 30 in	164	Good	Trimmed 3.5%

Sizes withheld
Size	Why
12 x 8 in	Wrong shape: a 14% crop
18 x 12 in	Wrong shape: a 14% crop
24 x 16 in	Wrong shape: a 14% crop
30 x 20 in	Wrong shape: a 14% crop
36 x 24 in	Wrong shape: a 14% crop
48 x 36 in	137 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged
60 x 40 in	Wrong shape: a 14% crop