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Description

This facsimile example of the Sylvanus World map was sold at Dominic Winter in September 2021 and was later determined to be some sort of fake.

www.dominicwinter.co.uk/Auction/Lot/454-world-sylvanus-bernard-untitled-map-of-the-world-venice-1511/?lot=372162&au=774&sd=1

There were a number of anomalies spotted, including:

  • Strange artifacts in the reproductive process
  • Sections of the printed map that were inaccurately re-drawn
  • Misaligned text in red, including one section printed backwards at the bottom right
  • General image muddiness, suggesting some sort of photo-mechanical reproductive process
  • lettering anomalies in the red letters (bad shapes, etc.).

The paper appeared correct and an Italian fold was observed on the verso.

Bernardus Sylvanus Biography

Bernardus Sylvanus (Bernardo Silvano) was born around 1465 in Eboli, a small agricultural town near Salerno in southern Italy. He began studying Ptolemy around 1490, when he was living in Naples. At this time he ran a print shop or studio, producing maps and codices. It was here that he produced his first edition of Ptolemy’s Geographia in 1490, which he dedicated to Andrea Matteo Acquaviva, the third Duke of Atri. For this edition Sylvanus used coordinates and text from Jacopo d’Angelo’s translation, and copied the maps from a Roman printed edition of either 1478 or 1490 (both printed from the same plates). Sylvanus’ 1511 Venice edition of the Geographia built on his prior work, but was groundbreaking in several regards. It was the only edition to add modern updates directly into Ptolemy’s maps, the only edition at the time to print maps on both sides of the leaf, the first edition printed in two colors, and the first Italian edition to use woodblocks. Nothing is known of Sylvanus’ life after the publication of this edition.