Giacomo Gastaldi's monumental and, until now, ghost map of the world, the discovery of which addresses generations of carto-bibliographic speculation, and justifiable confusion, about whether Gastaldi was responsible for two large wall maps of the world, or just one.

Gastaldi's 'L'Universal Descrittione Moderna d[el] Mondo' is, without doubt, the new map that Gastaldi described in some detail in his libretto (i.e. little book, or pamphlet), 'La Universale descrittione del Mondo, descritta da Giacomo de' Castaldi Piamontese' (1561), and not, as was previously thought, the 'Cosmographia Universalis et Exactissima iuxta postremam neotericorum traditio[n]em', "A Jacopo a Castaldio" (c1561) (Shirley 107), known in one complete example, British Library (C18.n.1), and one lacking three sheets, at the BnF.

'L'Universal Descrittione Moderna d[el] Mondo' is now, by far, the most detailed map of the world to date, one of the first printed maps to name Canada, and to show it and North America in any detail, even more than that included in Paulo Forlani's 'Il Disegno del discoperto della nova Franza, il quale s'e havuto Ultimamente dalla Novissima Navigatione de' Franzesi in quel Luogo: nel quale si Vedono Tutti l'Isole, Porti, Capi et Luoghi fra Terra che in quella sono...' (1565/6) (Burden 33), the first separately-printed map of North America.

Were it unscathed, 'L'Universal Descrittione Moderna d[el] Mondo' would also be the first map to show and to name Gastaldi's most enduring cartographic invention, the Strait of Anian.

Gastaldi's previous maps of the world
Gastaldi's first map of the world, 'Universale, Giacomo Cosmographo In Venetia MDXXXXVI' (1546), was engraved in copper, on an oval projection, and became one of the most important and influential maps of the sixteenth century. Like the current map, Gastaldi borrowed its shape from Francesco Rosselli's (1445–1513) 1508 map of the world, the first to display the whole surface of the globe within an oval projection encompassing all 360 degrees of longitude, and 180 of latitude.

Gastaldi's smaller map was re-issued, with slight variations, at different dates up to the end of the century: "an influential prototype, it was reduced and redrawn for the Ptolemy-Gastaldi atlas of 1548 ['Universale novo'], adapted in woodcut form by Pagano in 1550 ['Dell Universale'], was the source for De Jode's first world map of 1555 ['Universalis Exactissima atquenon recens modo, verum et recentioribus nominibus totius Orbis insignita descriptio: quo nomine studiosis omnibus non tam utilis quàm maximè necessaria per Iacobum Castaldum Pedemont. Cosmogr. apud Venetos']. Throughout the 1560s a later generation of Italian engravers and publishers - Forlani, Camocio and Bertelli - produced a number of confusingly similar derivatives" (Shirley). And "its adoption by Ortelius as a basis for his world map, in the 'Theatrum Orbis Terrarum' (1570) gave the widest possible circulation to this presentation of the earth's surface" (Tooley).

The sources of the geographical information in the 'Universale' (1546) "were various. For South Asia and Africa, the resemblance to Sebastian Cabot's oval world map of 1544 is quite remarkable. In North America we can detect similarities with the manuscript world maps in atlases of Battista Agnese, especially for the overall shape of the continent and the northwest coast of America; the evidence of their similar projection and central meridian confirms this view. Gastaldi created at least three similar maps from the 'Universale': the 'Universale Novo' that formed part of the 1548 edition of Ptolemy's Geography; the 'Dell'universale', a two-sheet woodcut published by Matteo Pagano about 1550; and the multisheet 'Cosmo- graphia universalis' (c1561)" (Woodward).

To this canon has previously been added a magnificent wall map, 'Cosmographia Universalis et Exactissima iuxta postremam neotericorum traditio[n]em', "A Jacopo a Castaldio" (previously c1561, now after 1571) (Shirley 107) (910 by 1810mm), in ten sheets on nine, held at the British Library, and long presumed to be the new map of the world described by Gastaldi in his 'La Universale descrittione del Mondo' (1561). However, the discovery of 'L'Universal Descrittione Moderna d[el] Mondo', proves this not to be the case.

"... the mapamondo of Jaco piamontese di Gastaldi"
On the 30th of July 1561, the Council of Ten, the ruling body of the Venetian Republic, for which Giovanni Battista Ramusio was secretary, approved the publication in Venice of Gastaldi's libretto, "the one which accompanies the mapamondo of Jaco piamontese di Gastaldi". Subsequently, on the 18th of August 1561, Gastaldi's associate of many years, as printer and engraver, Matteo Pagano, applied for a privilege for a map, presumably the one intended to accompany Gastaldi's libretto "claiming that he had, with much effort, time, and expense, drawn and engraved a "mapamondo" in twelve sheets and was asking the senate to grant a privilege for fifteen years to prevent copying in wood or in copper" (Woodward).

The libretto was subsequently published as 'La Universale descrittione del Mondo, descritta da Giacomo de' Castaldi Piamontese' (1561), and in it Gastaldi describes his new wall map of the world in some, very telling, detail. This includes that it will be distinguished by having 24 meridians and 24 parallels (12 in the northern hemisphere and 12 in the southern), but in the most significant departure from his own previous maps of the world, the boundaries between the continents will be clearly marked, including an emphatic assertion that "La terza parte nominata Asia, hai suoi costni verso Levante, benche nel detto Mapamondo pare che sia verso Ponente; il stretto detto Anian, & si distende con una line a per il golfo Cheinan, e passa nel mare Oceano de Mangi sino al Meridiano che e al fin dell'isola di Giapam verso Levante, & seguit ando il detto Meridiano verso Austro,.... Questo fera il confin dell'Asia verso Levante dal Mondo nuovo" – "Asia terminates in the East, although on this world map, it appears in the West; the Strait of Anian extends with a line through the Gulf of Cheinan, and passes into the Sea of Mangi,... This is the border in the East between Asia and the New World".

For many, it has been assumed that the map referred to, in Pagano's petition, and in Gastaldi's libretto, was 'Cosmographia Universalis et Exactissima iuxta postremam neotericorum traditio[n]em', by "Jacopo a Castaldio" (British Library C.18.n.1, and BnF ark:/12148/cb443700000, lacking 3 sheets). However, this map does not match Gastaldi's description nearly so well as the current one.

For a start, one clue is surely in their titles: 'Cosmographia Universalis...' does not match that of the libretto, 'La Universale descrittione del Mondo'; whereas the current map's title, 'L'Universal Descrittione Moderna d[el] Mondo di Giacomo Gastaldi', has a very clear and close association.

More conclusively, there are some clear doubts as to the extent of Gastaldi's authorship of 'Cosmographia Universalis...', which in style is much more like that of Giovanni Andrea Vavassore (fl.1530-1573), particularly as displayed in his magnificent 'Procession of the Doge to the Bucintoro on Ascension Day' (1565). As Woodward reports: the "undated ten-sheet woodcut map of the world with the title 'Cosmographia universalis' bears the unusual form of Gastaldi's name "Jacopo a Castaldio", and indicates that the map was "Revised by Giacomo Gastaldi, and by several other highly skilled scholars of the discipline, and corrected and enriched in almost infinite places". The cartography is indeed similar to that expressed in 'La Universale descrittione Moderno d[el] Mondo', and includes information first submitted by Gastaldi in his libretto, and the discoveries of Jacques Cartier in the northeast of North America. However, 'Cosmographia Universalis...', would appear to be at least ten years later than 'La Universale descrittione Moderna d[el] Mondo', since it in all likelihood post-dates the Spanish victory at the battle of Lepanto in 1571. A dramatic vignette at the very centre of the map depicts a gentleman in Ottoman attire offering King Philip of Spain, "P.F.P" (i.e. Philippo fidei Promotor), the whole earth with one hand, while pointing in the direction of the "New World" with the other, implying that his work as defender and promoter of the true Christian faith worldwide has only just begun.

After examining the British Library example of 'Cosmographia Universalis', in 1939, Almagià was the first to point out several features that suggest it was not the map referred to in Gastaldi's libretto, or Pagano's petition, but a close copy.

Pagano's petition was for a map of 12 sheets, while 'Cosmographia Universalis...' has ten (actually nine, but one was clearly intended to be divided into two).

Pagano's printer's mark (clasped hands) is not on 'Cosmographia Universalis...', whereas it is on 'La Universale descrittione Moderna d[el] Mondo', lower left, at the very heart and centre of the compass rose. It was very unusual for Pagano not to sign his work.

Gastaldi did not normally collaborate with other cartographers, yet the full title of 'Cosmographia Universalis... A Jacobo castaldio, nonnvllisque aliis hvivs disciplinae peritissimis nuncimum revisa, ac infinitis fere in locis correcta et locupletata', clearly states that it was a collaboration: "revised by Giacomo Castaldio, and by several other highly skilled scholars of the discipline, and corrected and enriched in almost infinite places". In and of itself, the form of his name, "Jacopo a Castaldio", is unusual.

As Woodward reports, no text type is found in the white spaces clearly intended for it on 'Cosmographia Universalis...', suggesting that this was either a proof before letters or a very late pull of the blocks after the type had dropped out. The latter scenario is favored, "because the paper does not bear the watermark commonly used in Venice in the 1560s" [please note - no further information on the actual watermark is currently available]. The example of the 'Cosmographia Universalis...' in the BnF would seem to support the latter theory, as one cartouche with text survives on it.

Gastaldi's libretto indicated that the boundaries between the continents would be clearly marked on his map, but they are not on 'Cosmographia Universalis...'. Whereas 'L'Universal Descrittione Moderna d[el] Mondo' is drawn with great pains to separate the continents, particularly Asia and America.

The libretto distinguishes 24 meridians and 24 parallels (12 in the northern hemisphere and 12 in the southern), but 'Cosmographia Universalis...' has only twelve parallels, whereas 'L'Universal Descrittione Moderna d[el] Mondo', has all called for in the libretto.

All these points have continued to raise the possibility that there was a very similar, and earlier, 12-sheet map, made in 1561 with Gastaldi's name on it, "that would repay a search" (Woodward).

'L'Universal Descrittione Moderna d[el] Mondo', the current map, is the result of that search, and fulfills all the criteria set out in Gastaldi's libretto: including the correct number of meridians and parallels, and
the crucial distinction of clarifying the borders between the continents, particularly, that between Asia and America: the Strait of Anian.

The myth of the Strait of Anian
While Gastaldi had previously maintained the long tradition of connecting the Asian and American continents in his maps before 1556, even though many of his contemporaries had already adopted the notion, his 'Universale della parte del mondo nuovamente ritrovata' (1556), printed in the third volume of Ramusio's 'Navigazioni e viaggi', "shows him starting to hesitate, with this part of the world left blank and unfinished and the link between Asia and North America unclear. Five years later, he described his conception of the Strait of Anian as well as its placement on his 1561 wall map in a contemporaneous pamphlet, 'La universale descrittione del mondo' (1561), where he states that Asia "terminates in the East, although on this world map, it appears in the West; the Strait of Anian extends with a line through the Gulf of Cheinan, and passes into the Sea of Mangi... This is the border in the East between Asia and the New World".

Even though the current, and only known, example, of 'L'Universal Descrittione Moderna d[el] Mondo', is severely damaged, particularly at the outer edges, it is possible just to see that there is a continuous, definitive, and distinctive western coastline to the northern region of North America. The 'Golfo di [C]hienan' is clearly visible, as is '[Mare] di Mangi', and it is this cataloguer's certain belief that the "Streito di Anian" would have appeared immediately above: making 'L'Universal Descrittione Moderna d[el] Mondo' the first map to show and name the Strait of Anian.

Gastaldi, like his predecessors and contemporaries, was very aware of "Ania", a Chinese province mentioned in accounts of Marco Polo's travels; quite possibly as a result of his collaboration with Giovanni Battista Ramusio, for whose 'Viaggi' he had provided maps, and who published a new account of Polo's adventures in 1559. Gastaldi included this province on his large three-sheet map of Asia, 'Il disegno della terza parte dell'Asia' (1562); and for his influential map of North America, 'Il Disegno del discoperto della nova Franza' (1565/6) (Burden 33), Paulo Forlani adopts Gastaldi's model for the "Streto de Anian", dividing the Asian and American continents, and much else from Gastaldi's cartography. Interestingly, Forlani would not include the Strait of Anian on one of his world maps during his lifetime, but it does appear in the 1651 re-issue.

Cartography
'L'Universal Descrittione Moderna d[el] Mondo' (1561) now usurps 'Cosmographia Universalis...' (after 1571) (see Burden page xxviii) as the most detailed map, by far, of the world, to date. It is one of the earliest printed maps to incorporate the discoveries of the three voyages of French explorer, Jacques Cartier, preceded only by Paulo Forlani's first map of the world, 'Paulus de Furlanis Veronensis Opus hoc ex.mi Cosmographi Dni. Jacobi Gastaldi Pedemontani instauravit' (1560). However, Gastaldi's map depicts all of the Americas, and particularly North America, in much greater detail than Forlani does here, and on his separate map of North America, 'Il Disegno del discoperto della nova Franza, il quale s'e havuto Ultimamente dalla Novissima Navigatione de' Franzesi in quel Luogo: nel quale si Vedono Tutti l'Isole, Porti, Capi et Luoghi fra Terra che in quella sono...' (1565/6) (Burden 33). In this last, Forlani does, however, incorporate Gastaldi's 'Streto di Anian', in what has previously been considered its first appearance on a map.

None of this should come as a surprise, as Gastaldi had long been interested in the cartography of North America, having included the first regional maps of the area in his pocket Ptolemy of 1547-1548; and larger ones to Ramusio's 'Viaggi' (from 1556).

In the northeast of 'L'Universal Descrittione Moderna d[el] Mondo' (1561), Canada is named, in which it is only preceded by Paolo Forlani's world map, 'Paulus de Furlanis Veronensis Opus hoc ex.mi Cosmographi Dni. Jacobi Gastaldi Pedemontani instauravit' (1560) (Shirley 106); "M.Regal", and "Hochelago" as the site of Montreal appear; "Stadacone", the future site of Quebec City; and "Saguenai Regno", now Saguenay, appear.

While the western portion of North America is still largely empty of topographic detail, it is full of large trees, mythical beasts, and mountain chains. California appears as an island.

In the southwest, Mexico and New Spain are filled with topographical detail and many toponyms, indicating a Spanish source for much of the information.

Chile bulges into the Pacific Ocean.

The "Streto di Magalenes" separates South America from "Terra del Fvego", which remains attached to a very large southern landmass: "Terra Incognita". Although much of the far western portion of that is now missing, it does look as if New Guinea was represented as a peninsula.

A ghostly spectre
The cartography expressed in Gastaldi's 'L'Universal Descrittione Moderna d[el] Mondo' (1561), was reiterated in many of the maps that followed it, casting a long and recognizable shadow, long before we now believe the 'Cosmographia Universalis...' (after 1571) appeared.

As previously discussed, Paolo Forlani's 'Il Disegno del discoperto della nova Franza, il quale s'e havuto Ultimamente dalla Novissima Navigatione de' Franzesi in quel Luogo: nel quale si Vedono Tutti l'Isole, Porti, Capi et Luoghi fra Terra che in quella sono...' (1565/6), incorporates Gastaldi's model for North America, crucially including the Strait of Anian. So too does Giovanni Francesco Camocio's world map in four sheets (1567) follow Gastaldi's 1561 model, in most aspects; as does an untitled map of North America (c1569) (attributed to him by Burden 37), incorporate cartography as close in content to 'L'Universal Descrittione Moderna d[el] Mondo' (1561), as to 'Cosmographia Universalis...' (after 1571), previously considered its forebear.

In 1569, Gerard Mercator adopted Gastaldi's model for the Strait of Anian in his great 21-sheet map of the world. And in 1570, Paolo Forlani's exceptionally rare map, 'Al Mag.co Sig.nor Antonio Tognale Sig. nor Mio Osser.mo... tutte le navagationi del Mondo nuovo' (Burden 38), relied heavily on Gastaldi's 'L'Universal Descrittione Moderna d[el] Mondo' (1561), for the depiction of North America and the Strait of Anian.

A Renaissance map of the world
For his maps of the world from 1546 onwards, Gastaldi adopted the 1508 oval projection of Rosselli. Also, in common with Rosselli's beautiful map, Gastaldi has, here, in his new map of 1561, incorporated a comprehensive, all inclusive, grid of lines of latitude and longitude, classical windheads, and clouds to represent the firmament. As is fitting for a world map of the Renaissance period, Gastaldi has embellished his map further with, at least to the surviving top and bottom borders, medallion vignette portraits of philosophers and astronomers, personifications of the seasons, and Pope Gregory's capital virtues and sins.

Throughout the map is a series of legends that refer to the distant lands of southeast Asia, the Moluccas, Tabrobana, the Philippines, and the riches to be found there; as well as the Americas and South Africa.

At the bottom of the map, Gastaldi's longtime collaborator, printer and engraver, Mattheo Pagano, has dedicated the map to Gastaldi himself, accompanied by a long poem, literally singing ["carmina"] Gastaldi's praises.

In the top left is a list of constellations, bottom left, a compass rose, with Pagano's signature interlocked hands at the centre, bottom right are the scant remains of another dial, top right, a long legend directed at the map's audience.

The map is highly decorative: the land and sea are full of mythical animals, including the winged lion of St. Mark, the symbol of Venice; magnificent sea monsters, mermaids, and galleons; and compass roses.

The mapmakers
Matteo Pagano (1515-1588) engraved Gastaldi's map of the Piedmont (1555), which now exists in only one impression; cut the small woodcut maps, composed by Gastaldi, that illustrate Giovanni Battista Ramusio's 'Navigazioni et viaggi' (1550-1556); and published the libretto that accompanied Gastaldi's 1561 map of the world [as here], as well as supplying the verse dedication to the map. The 1565 edition of the libretto was published by Francesco de Tomaso di Salò, who took over Pagano's establishment after his death and over whose imprint Pagano's fine reduction of de' Barbari's view of Venice was published. Pagano is also responsible for a number of works on the subject of lace-making.

Pagano, who also collaborated closely with Venetian mapmaker Giovanni Andrea Vavassore, "was active as a wood-engraver and publisher from 1538 to 1562 in the Frezzaria, one of two parallel streets (the other was the Merzaria) that became the printmakers' quarter between the Piazza San Marco and the Rialto. These streets became a cultural rendezvous for booksellers and their clients. As with Vavassore's maps, Pagano's are now extremely rare; none survives in more than three impressions. Although the style and content of maps by the two engravers were similar, Pagano seems to have been less of a copyist than Vavassore. His association with the leading sixteenth-century Italian cosmographer Giacomo Gastaldi was also much stronger" (Woodward).

A self-avowed "Piemontese", Giacomo Gastaldi (c1500-1566) was born at the end of the fifteenth or the beginning of the sixteenth century. He does not appear in any records until 1539, when the Venetian Senate granted him a privilege for the printing of a perpetual calendar. By the time his first dated map, 'Las Spana', appears in 1544, he had become an accomplished engineer and cartographer: the 'Germania' that appears in the 'Geographia' of 1547/8 is dated 1542. Karrow has argued that Gastaldi's early contact with the celebrated geographical editor, Giovanni Battista Ramusio, and his involvement with the latter's work, 'Navigationi et Viaggi', prompted him to take to cartography as a full-time occupation. In any case Gastaldi was helped by Ramusio's connections with the Senate, to which he was secretary, and the favourable attitude towards geography and geographers in Venice at the time: the senate gave him the notable title of "Cosmographer to the Republic of Venice".

Woodward proposes that Gastaldi was from "one of the two towns named Villafranca in Piemonte, probably the larger one near Saluzzo, but no documents relating to his birth date and early life have surfaced...

From 1551 until his death, Gastaldi was commissioned many times by the Savi sopra la Laguna to draw maps related to problems regarding regulation of the fresh and salt waters of the Venetian lagoon, sometimes as assistant to Cristoforo Sabbadino, proto or director of the Magistratura alle Acque. Upon Sabbadino's death, Gastaldi was proposed as his successor, but did not obtain a sufficient number of votes, probably because he was not a native Venetian...The first map he signed was the remarkably mature 'La Spaña' (1544), but he had obviously already been working hard on geographical matters, because he produced a large map of Sicily in 1545; his influential world map on an oval projection, the 'Universale', appeared only two years later; and the first compact edition of Ptolemy's Geography appeared two years after that, but he had worked on it at least as early as 1542 (the date on the map of Germany)... Gastaldi's 1548 edition of Ptolemy's Geography was the first to appear in the vernacular, but it was clearly inspired by Sebastian Münster's 1540 and 1545 Latin editions...

In the 1550s, in addition to a number of small regional maps, Gastaldi produced the maps for the three volumes of the 'Navigationi et viaggi' of Giovanni Battista Ramusio. Ramusio was the major link between the information provided by the explorers and the Italian academic publishing scene. A diplomat in the Venetian service, he was also secretary of the Council of Ten, the ruling body of the Venetian Republic...

In the late 1550s and early 1560s, Gastaldi compiled several influential maps. The map of Italy was already finished on 29 July 1559, when Gastaldi received a privilege for it from the Venetian senate, along with other maps by him, including maps of the three parts of Asia and of Greece and Lombardy. We do not know why Gastaldi waited two years to print the map after receiving the privilege, particularly because the representation of Italy on his map of Europe (1560) is essentially the same. His 'Italia' (1561) is an excellent example of the judicious merging of information from portolan charts with regional maps, more successful in the Po Valley than in the central states or the south...

Gastaldi died in October 1566 after providing a wealth of geographical source material for a critical mass of engravers and publishers who had shops on the Merzaria or neighboring streets in the late 1550s and 1560s. These included first Fabio Licinio, then Giovanni Francesco Camocio, Paolo Forlani, Niccolò Nelli, Domenico Zenoi, Michele Tramezzino, Ferdinando (or Ferando) Bertelli, and Bolognino Zaltieri" (Woodward).