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Rare (unrecorded?) second state of Coronelli's 2-sheet map of Asia, Australia and New Zealand, from Coronelli's Atlante Veneto, nel quale si contiene la descrittione.., published in Venice.
A beautifully engraved decorative double sheet map of Asia. The map itself contains interesting detail on Abel Tasman's discoveries in Australia as well as those made by Maarten de Vries to the north of Japan in 1643. Sweet, in his catalogue on Asia, states that Coronelli probably collaborated with Tillemon, producing this exceptionally accurate and up to date map. It is odd therefore that Quiros' discovery of the New Hebrides is not shown and that the map notes that New Zealand was discovered in 1654 and not the correct date of 1642.
The discoveries from both Tasman's voyages in 1642-43 and 1644 are noted. Many of the early Dutch discoveries in Australia are noted, and Australia is given two titles - Het Niew Hollandt and Nuova Hollanda.
This second state of the map includes extensive changes to the western (left) sheet. The Jesuit IHS at the top of the dedication has been removed and the text dedication eliminated, as has the reference to the dedicatee, Tirso Gonzalez of the Compania di Giesu.
More notably, a large section of the map has been updated and improved. Starting at the top, the name Nova Zembla... has been removed and all the information in this island eliminated, and the entire region between the Caspian and Nova Zembla has been completely re-engraved, radically altering its cartographic content. Even the shape of the northern coastline of the Caspian is re-worked. The Lago di Carantia, to the east of the Caspian has disappeared completely. The roads in the region are completely changed, as are all of the river systems. The coastline below the old Nova Zembla coast has been added in with real detail, a significant departure from the conjectural coastline in the first edition.
Vincenzo Maria Coronelli (1650-1718) was one of the most influential Italian mapmakers and was known especially for his globes and atlases. The son of a tailor, Vincenzo was apprenticed to a xylographer (a wood block engraver) at a young age. At fifteen he became a novice in a Franciscan monastery. At sixteen he published his first book, the first of 140 publications he would write in his lifetime. The order recognized his intellectual ability and saw him educated in Venice and Rome. He earned a doctorate in theology, but also studied astronomy. By the late 1670s, he was working on geography and was commissioned to create a set of globes for the Duke of Parma. These globes were five feet in diameter. The Parma globes led to Coronelli being named theologian to the Duke and receiving a bigger commission, this one from Louis XIV of France. Coronelli moved to Paris for two years to construct the King’s huge globes, which are 12.5 feet in diameter and weigh 2 tons.
The globes for the French King led to a craze for Coronelli’s work and he traveled Europe making globes for the ultra-elite. By 1705, he had returned to Venice. There, he founded the first geographical society, the Accademia Cosmografica degli Argonauti and was named Cosmographer of the Republic of Venice. He died in 1718.
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