Folio (416 by 280mm), engraved title-page, 25 engraved charts, 24 of which were double-page, numerous woodcut illustrations and coastal profiles in text, title discoloured at fore-edge with a few manuscript annotations, bookplate to front paste-down, recent vellum, red morocco title slip to spine.
The first and only edition of Levanto's rare pilot of the Mediterranean published in Genoa.
Levanto's atlas is a close copy of the Mediterranean section of Pieter Goos's 'Zee-spiegel' of 1662. The text on the charts was translated into Italian from Dutch, and they are numbered from one to 25 at the lower right corners.
The superb title-page, a mirror image of Goos's work, comprises a cartouche for the title and dedication to Giovanni Battista della Rov...
The first and only edition of Levanto's rare pilot of the Mediterranean published in Genoa.
Levanto's atlas is a close copy of the Mediterranean section of Pieter Goos's 'Zee-spiegel' of 1662. The text on the charts was translated into Italian from Dutch, and they are numbered from one to 25 at the lower right corners.
The superb title-page, a mirror image of Goos's work, comprises a cartouche for the title and dedication to Giovanni Battista della Rovere surmounted by an allegory of Geography. On either side of the title-page navigational instruments are arrayed and a naval battle scene is revealed behind a pair of curtains held aloft by putti. The title-page and charts would later be reused by Coronelli for the southern Italian section of his 'Atlante Veneto', in 1698.
Francesco Maria Levanto was a Genoese ship captain and cartographer. His maritime experience shows in the style of his maps, which are influenced by portolans, with compass roses, rhumb lines, and place names along the coastline.
bibliography:
bibliography:
Koeman IV, Lev 1; NMM 3:42; Shirley, British Library M.LEV-1a; Zacharakis 1350-1364.
provenance:
provenance:
Provenance: 1. Bookplate of the Society of Writers to Her Majesty's Signet.
Rare chart of New Jersey published in “the first maritime atlas to be devoted to the Americas”
1 × £35,000
Speed’s map of ‘Tartary’
1 × £2,200
“A very new description of the peaceful sea, commonly called South Sea with the regions lying around it, and its islands, scattered everywhere” (Ortelius)
1 × £10,000
Southeast Asia
1 × £60
The cradle of the computer industry
1 × £20,000![KEULEN, Joannes van [II] Nieuwe Afteekening van Bombay](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20viewBox%3D%220%200%204000%203391%22%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E)
Van Keulen’s chart of Mumbai from the ‘Secret Atlas’
1 × £5,000
Speed’s map of ‘Tartary’ 
“A very new description of the peaceful sea, commonly called South Sea with the regions lying around it, and its islands, scattered everywhere” (Ortelius) 
Southeast Asia 
The cradle of the computer industry ![KEULEN, Joannes van [II] Nieuwe Afteekening van Bombay](https://i0.wp.com/crouchrarebooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/23939_1H.jpg?fit=4000%2C3391&ssl=1)
Van Keulen’s chart of Mumbai from the ‘Secret Atlas’ 
