Copperplate engraving, hand-painted, 185x260 mm. Taken from the Venetian edition of Ptolemy's “Geographia” edited by Ruscelli. This is the “ancient” map of southern Russia between the Sea of Marmara and the Caspian Sea. On the verso interesting and curious descriptive text in Italian. Taken from the Venetian edition of Ptolemy's “Geographia” edited by Ruscelli. The map is based on Gastaldi's 1548 map published in his edition of “Geography” a few years earlier. Ptolemy, the greatest cartographer of antiquity, published The Geography in 150 AD; in the Middle Ages it survived, thanks to Arab mediation, manuscripted in Greek and was later translated into Latin by Jacopo D'Angelo; from the beginning of the 15th century it gained increasing notoriety and in 1477 the first printed illustrated edition including only maps of the ancient world was published in Bologna, immediately followed by other editions in 1478, -80, -82 that already featured some maps of the modern world. With the succession of editions, the number of modern maps was increased aware that the world was quite different from Ptolemy's, leading up to Waldseemueller's famous 1513 edition, the first modern atlas, consisting of 20 new maps in addition to the ancient ones. During the 16th century and beyond, numerous editions were then published. Girolamo Ruscelli (1500-1566) was born in Viterbo and was an important writer and publisher, who after studying in Padua spent his career between Rome and Naples, where he died. Excellent copy in charming Ptolemaic-style coloring.