Isola Cuba Nova

Copper engraving, mm 180x245. Engraved by Livio and Giulio Sanudo. Scarce first edition of one of the first separate maps of Cuba. Also includes Jamaica and northwestern Hispaniola and the Cayman Islands. It is a slightly enlarged version of the map which appeared in Gastaldi's edition of Ptolemy thirteen years earlier. From Ptolemy's Geographia, edited by Ruscelli, published in Venice in multiple editions between 1561 and 1598.<BR>The peculiarity of these maps is that two maps were engraved on one plate together and later separated for the book. This can be seen in the atlas by the fact that the plate mark of the map runs off the top of the page. In 1574 a new plate was used which lasted until the final edition of 1599<BR>The text of Ruscelli and his maps are considered as the best modern atlas before the first version of the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum by Ortelius of 1570. Very good example, strong impression, light paper discoloration at centerfold.<BR>Kapp, Capt. Kit S., in MCC #24 The Printed Maps of Jamaica, #2<BR>