Catalog Archive
Auction 180, Lot 365

One of the Earliest Maps of Brazil

"Brasil Nuova Tavola", Ruscelli, Girolamo

Subject: Brazil

Period: 1564 (published)

Publication: Geographia Claudio Ptolemaei…

Color: Black & White

Size:
10.1 x 7 inches
25.7 x 17.8 cm
Download High Resolution Image
(or just click on image to launch the Zoom viewer)

A very early copper engraved map of the region and one of the earliest available to collectors. Though most of the maps in Ruscelli's edition of Ptolemy are enlarged re-engravings of those found in the Gastaldi edition of 1548, there are four important, original maps including this one of Brazil. The map is oriented with north to the right. There are some coastal place names, but very little interior detail, scattered rivers, mountains, forests and a large volcano. The interior is labeled Terra non Descoperta and there is a notation referring to cannibals (Gli indi natij di questi paesi mangiano carne humana). In later editions this notation is replaced with an illustration of cannibalism.

References: Mickwitz & Miekkavaara #218-62.

Condition: B+

A dark impression on watermarked paper with some faint spotting.

Estimate: $350 - $425

Sold for: $200

Closed on 11/18/2020

Archived