Item: Africa Minor Nuova Tabula

Girolamo Ruscelli's "modern" or updated map of the central portion of northern Africa first appeared in his updated 1561 edition of second-century Greek geographer Claudius Ptolemy's Geography. It shows the region from "Numidia" to "Tolometa" or, roughly present eastern Algeria, Tunisia, and western Libya as far east as Benghazi. It also shows part of the Guinea coast in the bottom left corner. Malta and Lampedusa are among several islands featured in the Mediterranean. Ruscelli's geography was an expanded edition of fellow Venetian Giacomo Gastaldi's 1548 edition of Ptolemy's geography and Ruscelli's maps were just a little larger than those of Gastaldi; otherwise, there was usually little difference on first glance. Gastaldi's work has been called the most comprehensive atlas produced between Martin Waldseemüller's geography of 1513, and the Abraham Ortelius atlas of 1570. Both Ruscelli and Gastaldi's maps were beautifully engraved on copper, marking a turning point in the history of cartography. From that point forward, the majority of cartographic works used this medium. The copper plate was easier to incise than cutting into wood and it thus gave the engraver the ability to render more detail while also producing more copies. Revisions and changes were also much easier as portions of the plate could be hammered smooth and re-cut with ease. Horizontal map. Double sided, single paged with fold in middle (no binding). Full text on right side of page, left side blank, and map on reverse side of full page. Visible offsetting of map against page. 22 cm. x 29 cm. [Gift of Dr. Jack Franke]