World and continents--Petrini, Paolo.

Shirley 625

The set comprises:

World--[Mappamondo]. Untitled twin-hemispherical world map after Nicolas de Fer’s wall-map of 1694 with the north-west coast after Coronelli and the island of California with place-names after de l’Isle; the map is dedicated to Cesare d’Avalos, Marchese of Pescara, the hemispheres surrounded by images of Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus and Mercury after Cassini, zodiacal and mythological figures and below and depictions of trade, industry, science and art.

Americas--L'America. A close copy of de Fer's wall-map of 1700, Petrini's work shows some affinity with the work of Vincenzo Maria Coronelli; certainly, in common with both the Coronelli-Nolin (1689) and the de Fer maps of the Americas, geographical errors are repeated. The map is surrounded by images of natives and scenes from varying parts of the continents such as the Newfoundland cod fishery, beavers in Canada and vignettes of the French concluding a war with the Indians by passing the peace pipe. It is interesting to note that de Fer's (and Petrini's) use of the Beaver and Codfish scenes pre-date Moll's more famous maps.

Asia--L’Asia. Essentially a copy of Nicolas de Fer’s map of c.1700 with some amendments of geographical detail: for example Petrini shows north-eastern Asia after Isbrandt Ides, whereas de Fer shows the earlier (and partly fictitious) conceptions of Maarten de Vries and others to the north of Japan. The vignettes which surround the map show native inhabitants from each country and social and military events.

Africa--L'Africa. After Nicolas de Fer (1700) and reflecting the lack of real knowledge of the interior at that time. While some of the river systems, such as the Niger, seem to reflect knowledge based on actual discoveries, others are clearly based on rumour and hearsay. The Nile for instance, is shown rising in western Africa and flowing east across the Sahara as in the De Fer map, with a strange bulge between the Cape and the Congo and fictitious islands in the Atlantic Ocean. The decorative border has vignettes illustrating the inhabitants of the known regions.

Europe--L’Europa. After Nicolas de Fer (1700) with decorative vignettes of the principal European nationalities.

an extremely rare set of wall-maps, in unusually good condition. While examples of the four continents have appeared for sale individually, Shirley could locate no example of the world until one came on the market in 1980 (see Shirley 625, pl.429, in poor condition). If Shirley is correct, this may well be the only extant set of the four continents together with the world map. The World, Americas and Europe are not in the British Library.

Little is known of Paolo Petrini, the Neapolitan mapmaker. He is known to have published the rare Atlante partenopeo (1700-1718), and this equally rare set of wall-maps. Much of his work appears to have been based on contemporary French mapping, notably the works of the Sanson family and Nicolas de Fer. That he was not merely a copyist, however, may be seen from his map of Asia, which also demonstrates the use of more up-to-date sources where available.