Technic: Woodcut, colorit: original colored, condition: Latin edition. Binding in calfskin with gold embossing and gilt edges., size (in cm): 23 x 16,5 cm cm; - Magnificent and rare atlas, published by Vincentio Valgrisi (1490-??) after Claudius Ptolomeus, text by Giuseppe Moleto. 64 numbered double-page maps of which 27 are Ptolemaic maps showing the ancient world, including the “Old World” 37 “modern” maps including 2 world maps and several woodcut diagrams, illustrations and decorative initials.
Title page with Valgrisi's printer's mark, a tau cross with a snake coiled around it, held by two hands and inscribed with his name “Vincent” BOOK LIST: Title page, preface “Aloysio Cornelio Cardinali”, Claudii Ptolemaei Alexandrini Geograficae enarrationis Liber Primus. pp. 1 - 112, Cl. Ptolomaei Geographicae enarrationis, Liber II-VIII pp. 1 - 286. 64 numbered maps, 63 pages index. The text of this atlas was written by Giuseppe Moleto (1531-1588), an Italian mathematician. It is based on the translation by Wilibald Pirckheimer from 1525. Moleto relies on the enlarged maps by Ruscelli in his edition of 1561, which in turn are based on those by Jacopo Gastaldi. Moleto also included some of Girolamo Ruscelli's innovations from his own edition: the world map with the double hemisphere and the “Carta Marina Nuova Tavola”, a rare sea chart of the world. Ruscelli also produced a revised version of the Zeno map of the Arctic, which was first published in 1558.
The Zeno map describes the alleged voyage of the author's ancestors in the 1390s to Greenland, Iceland, the mythical islands of Friesland and Icaria and what is now thought to be Newfoundland and Labrador. While Zeno shows the connection between Greenland and Norway, Ruscelli updated the map by eliminating this land bridge. Despite its inaccuracies and the inclusion of mythical lands, the Zeno map remained the predominant map of the Arctic and Greenland for many years. Six other maps of the New World show the South American continent, Brazil, Central America and the Baja Peninsula, the east coast of North America, Cuba and Hispaniola. Moleto contrasts the Ptolemaic maps with those of the time, making it easy to compare old and new. Some small restorations at the top fold of the double maps and from map 33 onwards a slight tidemark at the top.