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Extremely rare regional map of the US, showing New Mexico, Tennessee, Missouri, Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin and Michigan as comprising the Ecclesiastical Provicince of S. Luigi (Saint Louis), from the extremely rare L'Orbe Cattolico ossia Atlante Geografico Storico Ecclesiastico Opera del Commendatore Girolamo Petri Officiale minutante della segreteria di Stato.

Petri's extremely rare work was by its title suggestive of works in the style of an historical atlas, but was in fact a massive 3 volume work underwritten by Pope Pius IX and intended to be the first great modern atlas to depict the Ecclesiastical regions organized by the Catholic Church at the time. Accordingly, the regions depicted, including most curiously New Mexico, Tennessee and the three parts of Illinese (Illinois), were all then part of the Ecclesiastical Province of San Luigi (St. Louis). It is also noteworthy to observe that several of the US States and Territories have been subdivided into curious sub-regions, including California, Illiniois, Indiana, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Virginia and Kentucky.

Pope Pius IX (1792 - 1878) was born Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti. His reign as Pope ran from 1846 until his death in 1878, the longest pontificate in the history of the Catholic Church. Among the historically significant events of his pontificate was the end of the Papal States. Beginning with the unrest in Rome which led to the declaration of a Roman Republic in 1849, through the period of Austrian and French protection under Napoleon III of France and culminating with Victor Emmanuel II's reunification of Italy and arrest of the Pope in 1870, the mid 19th Century was a period of dramatic change in Rome.

Petri's remarkable 3 volume atlas was no doubt part of the Vatican's last ditch efforts to understand and control its vast influence around the world, resurrecting the popular concept of ecclesiastical provinces popularized in works by Nicholas Sanson and others during the 17th Century. The resulting maps, including this extraordinarily decorative and unusual map of the Midwest, New Mexico and Tennessee, is a testament to the artistry of the engravers and the relative indifference of the publisher to the commercial success of work. It is without question one of the most finely engraved and elegant works of the mid-19th Century. This map is of perhaps even greater interest for the 3 part depiction of Illinois (the only printed evidence of these ecclesiastical divisions to appear on a printed map and for the separate depiction of New Mexico Territory on a printed map (the only other example being the rare Rogers & Johnston map of New Mexico Territory from 1857). This is the first time we have ever seen this map offered for sale.