World--Floriano, Antonio.

Gallo, Antonio Florian and his Mappemonde; Nordenskiold, Facsimile Atlas, p.94 & fig.48.; Shirley, Mapping of the World 99 (plate 85); Tooley, Maps in Italian Atlases 23

The condition of this item is as described in the catalogue description
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A rare and unusual world map, constructed on a polar projection, with each hemisphere cut into thirty-six gores, in the manner of printed globes, but clearly not intended to make a globe.

The map is seemingly unfinished, and has all the appearance of being a proof, as there is no title, dedication, or text, although suitable cartouches are present, but blank. However, all recorded examples of this map are similar.

There has been some debate about the publication date: the map is generally dated to 1555, on the basis of the privilege granted to Floriano in that year for a world map but, although geographically this map seems earlier, perhaps from the early 1540s, it is likely to based on the Antonio Salamanca map of circa 1550, so there seems little reason to doubt the accepted date. The upper left corner contains a portrait of Ptolemy, and the right hand cartouche a portrait of Floriano himself. The engraving has been attributed to Giovanni Paolo Cimerlinus, perhaps on the basis of the monogram beside the portrait of Floriano, but this seems tenuous.

"In 1555 Antonio Floriano of Udine addressed himself to the Doge of Venice to obtain a privilege to print his map of the world: 'I, Floriano, the very loyal servant of Your Highness and of this Illustrious Republic, with my diligence and knowledge having made a mappemonde which has never been made before, with the aid of which one can easily study and learn cosmography and see the entire picture of the world, since it can be reduced to spheric form'. Floriano also claimed that the map was made by him 'with so much drudgery and sweat, with more heavy toil Your enlightened judgement can imagine'. The result of Floriano's toil is this rare and unusual map depicting the two hemispheres each cut into thirty-six gores comprising ten degrees of longitude each" (Benevento).