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Description

Striking late 17th Century map of the region from the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea to the Persian Gulf, Straits of Hormuz and the Indus River, from Rossi's Mercurio Geographico.

The name Bischa is of perhaps greatest historical note. This would seem to be an early printed appearance of the name "Bishita," a name which dates back to the 8th and 9th Centuries, when it appeared in Eastern Syriatic documents of the Old Testament, "referencing the prosperity of the 'Bayt Qatarya' region."  (see, Khalid Al-Jaber, Media In Qatar, Katara (Publishin House 2021),  p. 23)

Shows tribal regions, towns, rivers, lakes, mountains, islands, bays, rivers. and many other details.

The map is drawn from the reports of Olearus, Tavernier, Jenkinson and other early explorers of the region.

Condition Description
Margin foxing. Minor staining at lower centerfold, with some minor loss of paper.
Giacomo Giovanni Rossi Biography

Giacomo Giovanni Rossi (1627-1691) was an Italian engraver and printer. He worked in Rome, the heir to an important printing business founded by his father, Giuseppe de Rossi (1570-1639). Giuseppe began the press in 1633 and Giovanni and his brother, Giandomenico (1619-1653) took it over upon his death. The brothers expanded the business and by the mid-seventeenth century it was the best-known printing house in Rome.

For his maps, Giovanni worked with Giacomo Cantelli da Vignola. They produced the Atlas Mercurio Geografico. The first edition is undated, but the second was issued in 1692, a year after Giovanni’s death. The maps were by Cantelli. The firm also published maps based on those of Nicolas Sanson.

Later, the business passed to Lorenzo Filippo (1682-?). By 1738, the firm was known as Calcografia Camerale, then, from 1870 to 1945, as the Regia Calcografica. Today, the firm is still in business and is called Calcografia Nazionale. It operates as a free museum and offers one of the best collections of prints and plates in the world.