POLONIA ET HVNGARIA NVOVA TAVOLA, 1599

Girolamo Ruscelli (alchemist/cartographer/translator) – Giuseppe Rosaccio (cosmographer/
revising cartographer/editor): “POLONIA ET HVNGARIA NVOVA TAVOLA”.

Venice, 19 x 24 cm /10 x 7 inches, from the Italian translation of Ptolemy’s Geographia”: “La Geographia di Caludio Tolomeo…”.

Ruscelli’s 1561 atlas was an expanded version of Gastaldi‘s 1548 atlas. Ruscelli and Gastaldi’s maps were engraved on copper, a turning point in the history of cartography. From that point on, the majority of cartographic works used this medium. Harder than wood, it gave the engraver the ability to render more detail. The 1st edition was in Latin, all later editions were translated into Italian.