c1597/8 - An original engraved map titled: " DESCRITTIONE DI TUTTOL MONDO SECONDO LA PRATTICA DE MARINARI - Universi Orbis Descriptio ad usum Navigantium "

Fascinating 16th Century map of the world, which appeared in Magini's edition of Ptolemy's Geographia. Magini's mariner's map follows Gerard Mercator's large world map of 1569 on a reduced scale, with the fanciful addition of a mountain range in the Southern Continent.

The map clearly shows a northwest passage. No Great Lakes are shown and California is is not yet an Island. Interesting early projections of both North and South America, with Quivera and the Straits of Anian named, along with Florida and Norobega. Several mythical Islands, including Frieslandt and Irlant are shown. The accompanying text refers to the navigational textbooks of Pietro Nonio and inlcudes instructions to help sailors navigate from place to place.

Excellent condition measuring approx 19.5cm x 28.5cm with later hand colour.

Giovanni Antonio Magini (1555-1617) was the leading mapmaker of his day working in Italy, author of the first printed atlas devoted to Italy, and also a very important (and rare) wall-map of Italy. Because of the rarity of these works, he is perhaps best known for this edition of Ptolemy, which met both with critical and commercial success, and was reprinted to 1621. Magini’s edition (this being the 1st edition in Italian) is significant for the greatly expanded commentary to the maps that he added. The maps were engraved by Girolamo Porro (1529-1600), the most famous of the Italian map engravers of the period, best known for the island maps in Tomaso Porcacchi’s Isole piu famose del Mondo, 1572, although his work is found in many illustrated books of the period. Porro was praised for the delicacy of his work, despite the handicap of poor vision in one eye.