Images(5)

Le Relationi Universali

Author Giovanni Botero (Italian, 1544 - 1617)

Publisher Alessandro de Vecchi (Venetian, 1570 - 1629)

Date1618

Object number00036887

NameBook

MediumVellum, paper, ink

DimensionsOverall: 223 x 163 x 70 mm, 1.06 kg

ClassificationsBooks and journals

Credit LineANMM Collection

Terms

DescriptionBook by Giovanni Botero titled 'Le Relationi Universali' published in Venice, Italy, by Allesandro de Vecchi in 1618. Included in the hand set book are four engraved folding maps and thirty two woodcuts. Title page text begins "Le Relationi Universali di Giovanni Botero benese, divise in sette parti. Alle quali vi sono aggiunte nuouamente i Capitani dell'istesso auttore, con le Relationi di Spagna; del Stato della chiesa, & di Sauoia ... Con le figure, & due copiosissimi tauole. Inoltre vi s'aggiunge nell'vltimo un breue racconto di mostri, & usanze di quelle Indie, con le sue figure al naturale, d'Alessandro de Vecchi".HistoryFirst published in 1591, Giovanni Botero's book was at that time considered the best global geography available. Primarily focused on the spread of Christianity based on Botero's on experiences as a Jesuit, it expanded to become a wider study human geography with entries on physical geography, economic resources, military power, and political systems. This 1618 edition, published after Botero's death, contains woodcut prints added by the publisher Alessandro Vecchi to enliven the text. The Asia and America maps both show substantial representations of New Guinea with, in the Asia map, a "Terre incognite Australis" below. In the America map. the extensive representation of the Pacific finishes at left with a very large New Guinea, with a note that it was named "terre Piccinnacoli" by the Florentine traveller Andrea Corsali. This name appears in different forms in maps of the period, sometimes as "terra psittacorum" or Land of Parrots; Corsali was of course the first European to identify, describe and illustrate the stars of the Southern Cross.SignificanceGiovanni Botero's 'Relationi Universali' of 1618 is the greatest catalogue of the imagined monsters of Terra Incognita. With large format woodcuts, it remained the most vivid of all the fantasy literature about unknown worlds until the late 18th century when Europeans began more systematic exploration of Africa and the Pacific.