Africa

An'upside down' wall map of Africa in its first state (edition). All four panels of the map are in fine condition (most examples are  stained by glue at the joins). The Antique Map Price Record reports only two first state maps sold in the past 33 years.

Giobattista Nicolosi, a priest from Sicily, was a cartographer for the Pope Gregory XV’s Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith, established by the pope to promote missionary work. This map is one of a set of four continents and a world map that he produced for the second volume ofDell' Hercolee studio geografico di Gio Battista Nicolosi...It was also published posthumously in its second state inHercules, Siculus sive stadium geographicum(Rome: J.B. Nicolosi,1670-71).

This map is the 1st state (four coastal place names off south-east coast south of 30°S) that was published in Dell' Hercole. The map is based on Sanson's 1650 map, but follows Ramusio and earlier Italian cartographers in that south is on top.The geographical information on the map is after Ptolemy, and somewhat conservative for the time in that few place names are provided. The lake in Abyssinia may be Lake Tana, the source of the Blue Nile.

References:Betz, Mapping of Africa #94; Norwich's Maps of Africa #45 (2nd state); not in Tooley's Collectors Guide to Maps of Africa.