Printing a Mediterranean world : Florence, Constantinople, and the renaissance of geography /
Florence, Constantinople, and the renaissance of geography
Sean Roberts.
- Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, (c)2013.
- 1 online resource (xiii, 293 pages, 25. pages of plates) : illustrations, maps.
- I Tatti studies in Italian Renaissance history .
Title from PDF title page (viewed Mar. 27, 2013).
Includes bibliographies and index.
Frontmatter -- Contents -- Illustrations -- Introduction: Gifts From Afar -- 1 Ptolemy in Transit -- 2 The Rebirth of Geography -- 3 Making Books, Forging Communities -- 4 Printing Tolerance and Intolerance -- Conclusion: Resurrection and Necromancy -- Notes -- Acknowledgments -- Index.
In 1482 Francesco Berlinghieri produced the Geographia, a book of over 100 folio leaves describing the world in Italian verse interleaved with lavishly engraved maps. Roberts demonstrates that the Geographia represents the moment of transition between printing and manuscript culture, while forming a critical base for the rise of modern cartography. In 1482, the Florentine humanist and statesman Francesco Berlinghieri produced the Geographia, a book of over one hundred folio leaves describing the world in Italian verse, inspired by the ancient Greek geography of Ptolemy. The poem, divided into seven books (one for each day of the week the author "travels" the known world), is interleaved with lavishly engraved maps to accompany readers on this journey. Sean Roberts demonstrates that the Geographia represents the moment of transition between printing and manuscript culture, while forming a critical base for the rise of modern cartography. Simultaneously, the use of the Geographia as a diplomatic gift from Florence to the Ottoman Empire tells another story. This exchange expands our understanding of Mediterranean politics, European perceptions of the Ottomans, and Ottoman interest in mapping and printing The envoy to the Sultan represented the aspirations of the Florentine state, which chose not to bestow some other highly valued good, such as the city's renowned textiles, but instead the best example of what Florentine visual, material, and intellectual culture had to offer.