A superb maritime world map by Girolam Ruscelli (1500‐1566) first published in his edition of Ptolemy’s ‘Geographia’ in Venice 1561. It is an enlarged version of the map of the same title by Giacomo Gastaldi (1500‐1566) from his own edition of Ptolemy in 1548. Of note is the enlarged northwest coast of America connected to the Asian continent. California is depicted as an island, one of the earliest to do so. It is extensively criss-crossed by a network of rhumb lines. This example is from the later 1598 edition. Ruscelli was from Tuscany and educated at the University of Padua. Provenance: Juan and Peggy Rada Collection. A. E. Nordenskiold Collection no. 227; Shirley (1993) 111; Shirley (2004) T.Ptol 10f.