A scarce world map after Giuseppe Rosaccio

ROSACCIO, Alovisio.

Universale Descrittione di Tutto il Mondo del Ecc.te Gioseppe Rosaccio.
Florence, c.1610. 265 x 310mm.

Trimmed on left with flap for binding, folds flattened with small repairs.

A double-hemisphere world map adapted from Guiseppe Rosaccio's map of 1597 by his son Alovisio (probably Latinised from Luigi), notable for the complexity of its engraved borders.
Around the Western Hemisphere are celestial constellations, interspersed with windheads (including a skull for the 'plague-bearing' southern wind); around the Eastern Hemisphere are climactic zones. In the cusps are a portrait of Duke Cosimo II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, and his armorial, with each of the six palle (balls) containing a small map of a continent or pole and a letter of Cosimo's name. In the four corners of the main map are roundels with representations of the Four Elements. Underneath the main map is a world map after Ptolemy, disparagingly titled in Italian ''This is how much Ptolemy knew about the world'', and eight spherical diagrams, including a key of geographical terms and how shadows change at different latitudes.

SHIRLEY: 268, second state, with beard added to Cosimo's portrait; 'curiously elaborate world map'.
Stock ID : 22849