The first edition of Girolamo Ruscelli’s modern map of Piedmont, Italy published in his edition of Ptolemy’s ‘Geographia’, 1561. The region drained by the River Po is beautifully illustrated. It is one of the earliest obtainable maps of the region and is a representation of the shift at the time from Ptolemaic to modern cartography, a crucial aspect of the Renaissance. The border contains figures of latitude and longitude, the ‘G’ in the corners most likely standing for the Latin ‘gradus’ for degrees. This map is one of two that were engraved on the same plate, printed here as seen by the lack of a plate mark above.

Girolamo Ruscelli (c.1504-66) edited the Latin text for this quarto edition of Claudius Ptolemy’s classic work ‘Geographia’ which is an expanded edition of Giacomo Gastaldi’s edition of 1548, which has been called the most comprehensive atlas produced between Martin Waldseemüller’s ‘Geographiae’ of 1513, and the Abraham Ortelius ‘Theatrum Orbis Terrarum’ of 1570. Gastaldi sought the most up-to-date geographical information available, making the modern maps in Ruscelli’s Geographia among the best modern maps of the period. The plates for Gastaldi and Ruscelli’s editions 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. As it was a harder material than wood it gave the engraver the ability to render more detail. Ruscelli’s plates were newly engraved by the brothers Giulio (fl.1540-88) and Livio (c.1520-76) Sanuto. The work was published by Vincenzo Valgrisi in Venice. The map appeared in the Latin edition of 1562, and both the Italian and Latin issues of 1564. In 1574 the two maps were separated, and it continued in use until the final edition of 1599. Cremonini (1991) 3 no. 4; Nordenskiold (1979) 216; Shirley (2004) T.Ptol 10a; Tooley’s Dictionary (1999-2004).