This is a rare
opportunity to acquire two original antique Globe Gores,
joined, centering on California & the SW of North
America - stretching in total from the Arctic to the
Equator - was published by Vincenzo Maria Coronelli
(1650 - 1718) in the 1693 Venice edition of Atlante
Veneto, Libro dei Globi..
The original copper-plates for these gores were engraved
in 1688 by Coronelli for
the construction of his large 42in (110cm) terrestrial
globe.
In 1693 Coronelli published all his gores - from the 2in
to the 42 in - in an atlas,
Libero dei
Globi, part of the great series of atlases,
Atlante Veneto. Libero dei Globi
was published by Coronelli to ensure
his work was available to a wider audience, as very few
could afford travel to Venice, Rome or Paris to view his
completed globes.
While the most
striking feature of the map is the depiction of
California as an island, historically, it is Coronelli's
treatment of the Rio Grande that is of greatest
significance. Earlier map makers had consistently shown
the river flowing into the Gulf of California. While
Giovanni Battista Nicolosi was the first to properly
show the course of the Rio Grande flowing into the Gulf
of Mexico, it was not until Coronelli adopted this
treatment of the river that it received universal
acceptance. One of the annotations in the map adjacent
to Il Paeso (El Paso) notes that the course of the river
has historically been depicted as flowing southwest, but
is correctly shown now flowing northeast.
The map is richly illustrated with a number of
geographical vignettes and a number of annotation in
Italian, including one noting the discovery of the
region by the Spanish in 1598 and several other dated
annotations, referencing early travels in the region.
The cartouche in the Pacific Ocean refers to the debate
over California's insularity and references the
explorers Cortez, Ulloa, Alarcon and Cabrillo in the
region. Offshore, a reference to Nuno Guzman's coastal
exploration along the coast of Mexico in 1532 is given.
The cartography of the gore is very similar to
Coronelli's 2 sheet map of North America, which appeared
in his Atlante Veneto, and there is some
question as to which was published first.
The Globe gore is
printed on heavy clean cabled paper, towards the bottom
of the Gore is the the late 17th century Venetian Tre-Lune
or three moon paper water-mark.
I have included an image of the Western Hemisphere Gores
from Rodney Shirley's reference book "The Mapping of the
World" to give you a perspective of these two gores.
Background: In the early 1680’s
Vincenzo Coronelli constructed two vast 15ft diameter
terrestrial & celestial globes for Louis XIV of France.
These were meticulously hand drawn & engraved. Such was
the admiration of these Globes that in 1688 Coronelli
began the engraving & publication of Globe Gores for the
construction of two 110cm (42in) terrestrial & celestial
globes.
Coronellis claim to have produced the best globes of any
age was exemplified by the high demand and purchase of
the globes by various institutions & cities within
Europe. Yet many scholars still did not have the
opportunity to visit Paris, London, Rome or Venice to
view them and so Coronelli devised his famous atlas
Libero dei Globi the first atlas of globe gores ever
produced. The Libro formed part of a great series
of atlases by Coronelli, the Atlante Veneto, in
which Coronelli was able to combine the two cartographic
art forms in which he excelled, maps & globes.
The engraving of the gores was of the highest standard
with neat contrasting lettering and five large
cartouches of a singular grace and elegance. One
cartouche situated below Australia carries a portrait of
the author and Pope Alexander VI.
Some of the more interesting features contained within
the Gores are the recording of recent French
explorations in North America, such as La Salles journey
to the mouth of the Mississippi in 1681-87 & the French
possessions within North America. Elsewhere the Caspian
Sea is drawn closer to its modern shape, the Nile in
Africa is shown without its fictitious source and the
Blue Nile is shown correctly from a large lake in
Ethiopia. The tracks of Le Maire crossing of the Pacific
in 1616 are marked, as is the voyage of Chaumont to Siam
in 1685-6. There are an unusual number of legends, all
explanatory and informative along with many vignettes of
ships and fishing scenes throughout the globe.
Coronelli was one of the finest engravers &
cartographers of any era, producing some of the most
stunning work ever seen. These Globe Gores are no
exception. Coronelli was a master craftsman with an eye
for detail. You can feel the uncompromising accuracy &
passion in his work when you study his maps & globes.
These globe gores are scarce, with only a few sales
records from the last 25 years. Similarly there is very
little choice currently on the market. This scarcity
ensures ongoing value and future appreciation.
Libero dei Globi - discrepancies:
Over the years there has been
confusion as to why there are differences of
cartographic information to some gores published in
Libero dei Globi. The answer I believe is simple.
Each of the original 1688 copper-plates measured
approximately 25 1/2in (650mm) in length from polar
calotte to equator. The total length of the paper for
Libero dei Globi was 19 1/2in (495mm). So rather
than go through the expensive exercise of re-engraving
the copper-plates to a reduced size Coronelli masked
about 6 1/2 - 7in in (165 - 175mm) of each copper-plate
so it would fit onto the atlas page.
It is not known why, either by fate or design, but in
different editions of Libero dei Globi the plates
were masked at the top of the plate and others the plate
was masked at the bottom. This meant that either
cartographic data was lost from the equatorial regions
or from the Polar regions. The masking also meant that a
plate-mark is only evident on three sides of the the
gores, a unique way of establishing originality. I tend
to believe that the change in masking was deliberate for
obvious reasons.
To illustrate the point examine the two gores below.
Both are from the same copper-plate The one
on the right is masked at the pole with no plate-mark at
the top and the other masked at equator again with no
plate-mark at the bottom. You therefore have the
complete original 1688 globe gore in two.
click images to enlarge
This has led to much confusion in the past, as we have
very little background information on Coronelli's
printing methods in regards to the gores.
(Ref: Shirley 538; Tooley; Dr. Helen Wallis The Map
Collector Dec 1980;
Armao, Ermanno.
Vincenzo Coronelli Cenni sull'uomo e la sua Vita
Catalogo... Bibliopolis, Florence pp.130-134)
General Description:
Paper thickness and quality: - Heavy and stable
Paper color: - white
Age of map color: - Later
Colors used: - Yellow, green, pink
General color appearance: - Authentic
Paper size: - 25 1/2in x 11 1/2 (650mm x 295mm)
Margins: - min. 1/4in (6mm)
Imperfections:
Margins: - L & R margins cropped passed plate-mark
Plate area: - None
Verso: - None
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