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Description

Exceptional Example of this Rare 10 Sheet Map of the World, following Plancius' Wall Map of 1592.

Arnoldi was a Belgian artist, who worked extensively in Italy, first with Giovanni Magini in Bologna, and later in Siena with Matteo Florimi. Arnoldi is known primarily from two printed world maps -- the present wall map and a reduced two-sheet version of it - and a set of continents, all of which were published by Florimi.

The present map was based on Petrus Plancius' hugely important 1592 wall map of the world, Nova et Exacta Terrarum Orbis Tabula Geographica Ac Hydrographica. At the time, Plancius was the official cartographer for the Dutch East India Company (VOC), a position that gave him unparalleled access to cutting edge geographical knowledge. His special access is on display in the wall map, which, although based on Mercator's map of 1569, also derived information from exceptionally-closely-guarded Portuguese cartography in the form of a manuscript map by Pedro de Lemos.

Arnoldi replicates the Plancius mapping without updating to account for the important explorations of the 1590s, although he did include scant modifications on the central and southern American Atlantic coast. The Americans, India, and some of the Far East are well rendered, while the Chinese coast and Japan are poorly understood. Aronldi has also done away with the southern polar projection inset, choosing only to show the four-part arctic.

Roberto Almagia, the great Italian map scholar of the early 20th Century, believed that the map was also influenced by cartographic updates which first appeared in De Jode's 1593 Speculum Orbis Terrarum. Almagia also postulates that the De Jodes may have created a wall map of the world which pre-dated the Plancius, which no longer survives. This is consistent with our theory regarding the pre-cursor to the+1593+De+Jode+world+map, which we handled in 2011.

The Plancius wall map is known only from a single example in poor condition at the Colegio del Corpus Cristi Valencia, where it is, unfortunately, not accessible to the public. The original 1600 issue of the Arnoldi map is known from an example in the University of Göttingen. The current example was issued in 1660 by Pietro Petruccini and is the only known surviving example of that state, previously unrecorded before the discovery of this example several years ago. Thus the present map represents the only reasonable opportunity one will have to acquire this important Dutch mapping of the world.

Condition Description
10 sheets joined. Minor soiling and some minor abrasions and image loss, but an exceptional example.
Reference
Almagia, Il Planisfero di Arnoldo de Arnoldi, 1600. Pubblicazioni dell’Instituto di Geografia della R. Universita di Roma, Rome, 1934; Robert Duowma, Catalogue 22, 1979, item 100, with Petrucci imprint dated “164-”; Shirley 227, plate 182 (1640 state illustrated), RR.
Arnoldo di Arnoldi Biography

Arnoldo di Arnoldi (d. 1602) was a Flemish cartographer who worked in Northern Italy at the end of the sixteenth century. Arnoldo was in Bologna by 1595, with his brother, Jacobo, where they worked with Antonio Magini. At the turn of the century, Arnoldi moved to Siena and began to work with Matteo Florimi, Magini’s rival. Arnoldi’s transfer may have contributed to the plagiarism case against Florimi by Magini at the same time. However, Arnoldi died only two years later, in 1602. He is best known for his excellently-wrought world map in ten sheets and his set of continental maps, all of which are extremely rare.