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| This visually striking cordiform, or "heart-shaped", world map is one of the earliest obtainable maps to show the New World. Included as the "modern" map of the world in the important Sylvanus edition of Ptolemy, it is, along with the Ptolemaic map previously described, one of the earliest world maps to be printed in two colours, and the first Italian world map to use woodcut as opposed to copper engraving. Decorated with finely carved windheads and signs of the zodiac, this is a supreme example of early Renaissance map making and is one of a small number of early 16th century cartographic masterpieces which are occasionally available to collectors. |
