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THE ATLAS OF BATTISTA AGNESE
The CD-book "Atlas of Battista Agnese" is part of the new series
"Palimpsests, facsimiles of the Marciana National Library of Venice",
directed by Piero Falchetta, who intends on offering scholars and
enthusiasts full reproductions of some of the most prized and important
manuscripts and printed works conserved in the Marciana National
Library.
The CD-ROM, available in English and Italian, for both the
Windows and Macintosh environments, together with a 200-page book, is
dedicated to the complete reproduction of a very famous manuscript atlas
conserved in the Marciana Library.
The author is one of the greatest map-makers of the XVI century,
Battista Agnese. The manuscript [Ms. Marc. It. IV, 62 (= 5067)] was
created by Agnese from 1554-1556 and is perhaps the most beautiful and
certainly the most detailed of those he produced over his long and
successful map-making activities.
The CD-ROM contains:
- 112 high-resolution colour pictures of the Agnese Atlas
- 27 pictures of the Tabulae Antiquae of Ptolemy (Rome 1490 edition)
- 54 pictures ready for immediate comparison, taken from the Agnese
Atlas and from the Tabulae of Ptolemy
- texts equivalent to more than 500 pages
The CD-ROM provides the user with the opportunity of making an
in-depth as well as complete exploration of the 32 charts by Battista
Agnese, reproduced in their entirety together with the pages inserted by
the map-maker as accessories to the manuscript (armillary map, table of
solar declinations, representation of the celestial spheres, the
zodiac).
The single charts can be analysed down to the smallest details,
thanks to four different zoom factors which enlarge the dimensions up to
six times the original size. No details will ever be missed thanks to
the high graphic resolution. Tools are provided to help read the
pictures and to ensure a detailed analysis. The "Rotate" application can
be run on each chart. This function is used to place the names that are
written vertically or upside-down in a horizontal position. The
descriptions of the single charts illustrate the main technical and
compositional aspects. The texts also include hypertextual links to the
most important subjects (for example: the description of Temistitan, our
Mexico City; the Taprobana island; the pilgrimages in the Holy Land; the
mysterious Priest Ianni; the voyage of Magellan...).
The Tabulae Antiquae of Ptolemy (Rome 1490 edition), which are
also reproduced in their entirety, can be used to obtain more complete
knowledge of the cultural sector that includes the work by Battista
Agnese; the two works can be compared immediately by using the guided
comparisons.
The texts of some of the main studies on Battista Agnese,
together with extensive bibliographies, offer the possibility of an
immediate in-depth study. Finally, the entire text of the report by
Antonio Pigafetta, who travelled with Ferdinand Magellan on the first
voyage around the world, is part of the beautiful chart in which
Battista Agnese traces the route of the great navigator.
The book contains the guide to navigate in the CD-ROM and the
articles "The manuscript Atlases of Battista Agnese" (Henry R. Wagner
1931) and "Introduction to the history of nautical map-making in Venice
(XIV-XV century)" (Piero Falchetta 1995).
An overview about the CD-book is available at the site:
http://www.vol.it/canal/agneseen.htm
The sales price up to December 31, 1996 is Lit. 149,000 for the CD-book
plus shipping expenses. A discount of 20% will be applied for orders of
more than 5 copies. To buy the work, complete the order form which can
be obtained from the site:
http://www.vol.it/canal/ordrform.htm
and send it:
- by fax to +39-41-718033
- by e-mail to [log in to unmask]
- by mail to Canal Multimedia, Santa Croce 2180, 30135 Venice Italy.
Please, send us your address to receive further information about our
next publications of the series "Palinsesti" and other cartography
related material.
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