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1576 Tomasso Porcacchi
$ 495.00
Description

Striking, full-color example of the Padua edition of Porcacchi's fascinating sea chart of the World. First appearing in Porcacchi's pocket-size Isolario, L'Isole Piu Famose Del Mondo (Venice 1572), this example is from 1713's Universus Terrarum Orbis Scriptorum Calamo Delineatus by Alphonsus Lasor à Varea, pages 149 and 150.

A highly distorted, miniature sea chart of the world, the map's marvelous dark blue coloring obscures some rhumb lines emanating from sixteen points used by ancient mariners. This nautical map displays most of the world, but extends only just beyond India in the east. The Northwest Passage is clearly shown. Also of note is the massive unknown southern continent, titled "Terra Incognita". There is considerable accompanying text in three columns of Latin above and below the map and on the verso.

Alphonsus Lasor à Varea was the pseudonym of Raffaello Savonarola (1646-1730), a member of the Roman Catholic order of the Théatines. As a Théatin scholar, Savonarola was devoted to the study of geography and literature. In 1698 and 1714 Savonarola issued the prospectus for his Orbis Litterarius Universalis, which was to be a bibliography of works issued in all languages up to 1700. The work represented twenty years of labor and the manuscript comprised forty folio volumes. Universus Terrarum Orbis Scriptorum Calamo Delineatus, a sort of geographical dictionary containing information on various locations around the world arranged in alphabetical order, is thought to be the only portion of the greater work to ever be published. The manuscript of the Orbis Uterarius Universalis, still extant towards the end of the 18th century in the Library of the Théatines in Padua, appears to have been lost at some time in the 19th century.

The Lasor à Varea is a curious late edition of Porcacchi's Carta da Navigare, which seldom appears on the market.

Reference
Shirley #128