Berlinghieri’s Geography Unveiled

Berlinghieri’s Geography was printed by Tedescho, dedicated to Federico d'Urbino and published in Florence in 1482. The text is written in vernacular language, in terza rima corresponding with Dante's Divina Commedia, instead of Latin. For the maps Marinus of Tyre's rectangular projection method has been used except for the world map. Next to the printed edition, two beautiful manuscript versions on parchment have been preserved. Several of the earliest printed copies were illuminated, gold heightened, and with miniatures decorated for high-ranking persons. Despite this atlas having been researched by multiple scholars in the past, several hitherto unanswered questions remained. These prompted our research. Over the past five years, we have studied more than 40 extant copies in Europe. In this book we unveil most of the previously unsolved issues, show the paper use in Tedescho’s printing office and display the watermarks found in the paper. In addition, we describe new findings such as the existence of proofs, multiple states of almost every map in the atlas, and the method of production of the manuscripts and their relation to the printed edition.