Extremely rare map of Asia by the Venetian engraver Govanni Battista Mazza.

Mazza’s work is notable as the first map to accurately depict and name Luzon.

“Ortelius flourished just a bit too early to have mapped the ‘true’ island of Luzon. That omission was subsequently corrected by the Italian geographer Giovanni B. Mazza on a separately published adaptation of Ortelius’ map of the Asian continent. Probably dating from around 1590. Mazza adds ‘Luconia’ (Luzon) in a roughtly recognizable shape” (Suarez)

The map was published as part of a set of the four continents. Although none of the extant examples bear a date; a date of circa 1589 has been convincingly suggested for the map of America by Suarez and Casten in their 1995 article published in issue 70 of The Map Collector.

Little is known about Govanni Battista Mazza an engraver working in Venice at the end of the sixteenth century. He is known to have engraved a magnificent world map for Giuseppe Rosaccio in 1597, and the present map is part of a set of the four continents.

Rare; we are unable to trace any institutional examples, with only two examples appearing on the market in the last 30 years.