Sir Robert Dudley’s ‘Arcano del Mare’ is the first printed English nautical atlas and is filled with descriptions of the art of navigation all heavily illustrated with beautiful engravings. It was superior to any previous work in that the charts illustrated the whole world, the first time any outside of Europe had been included. It was the first atlas to use Mercator’s projection throughout, and the earliest to show the prevailing winds, currents and magnetic deviation. Dudley improved upon the theory of navigating by the ‘Great Circle’, the shortest distance between two points on a globe. It would be the eighteenth century before cartographers used the projection consistently. During the great Dutch period not one atlas was produced using it. The engraver employed for the immense task was Antonio Francesco Lucini, who was born in Florence, 1605. Lucini states in this second edition of 1661 that he worked for twelve years in a small Tuscan village and used 5000 lbs of copper to make the plates. They represent the finest of Italian capabilities, the clarity of the engraving presenting an uncluttered image. Even the florid italic calligraphy, whilst fulfilling a purpose, is of the highest standard.

There was a second edition of the atlas in 1661, jointly published by Lucini and Jacopo Bagnoni. This is an example of the first volume only containing Books 1-5 of 6 but lacking the 15 general maps. The Library of Congress possess a similar volume and describe in detail in Phillips the differing collations of Books 1-5. “The remainder of the work consists of writings to explain navigation, latitude and longitude, winds, tides, military and naval warfare, naval architecture, and instruments. Dudley illustrates his constructions and supplies working models with volvelles and pointers which can be moved for calculations … Up to about 1946, the Specola Museum in Florence possessed working wooden models of the instruments devised by Dudley. Unfortunately they were unwittingly destroyed in the building’s incinerator during a fuel shortage” (Dilke). An example of this exact issue just sold at Sotheby’s London 30 April 2015 lacking all 63 volvelles for £8,750. Provenance: Dilke (1982); Hale (1873); The A. E. Nordenskiöld Collection (1979) no. 70; Phillips (1909-) no. 3428 (volume 1, books 1-5 similarly); Robinson (1962); Shirley (2004) M.Dud-1b (volume 1, books 1-5 similarly); Temple-Leader ‘Life of Sir Robert Dudley’; Waters (1958).