Carta particolare che comincia con il capo Dofar in Arabia è finisce con il capo...

Very rare nautical chart of the Arabian Sea from R. Dudley's Dell'Arcano del Mare

First edition of the striking sea chart of the Arabian Sea by Sir Robert Dudley from his Dell'Arcano del Mare (Secrets of the Sea). Engraved by A. F. Lucini and published 1646 in Florence. Shows the south-eastern part of the Arabian peninsula, the southern area of the Red Sea up to the north-western part of India in the east. Decorated with a cartouche in shape of a shell, a compass rose and a two-masted ship.

Lord Wardington notes to Dudley's Dell'Arcano del Mare:

One of the greatest Atlases of the World and one of the most complex ever produced: it is the first sea-atlas of the whole world; the first with all the charts constructed using Mercator's new projection, as corrected by Edward Wright; the first to give magnetic declination; the first to give prevailing winds and currents. the first to expound the advantages of 'Great Circle Sailing'; and the first sea-atlas to be compiled by an Englishman.

Printed from two plates, joined. Tear in lower right corner backed, 4 small tears in margin backed. Dark and clear impression. Very good condition.

Robert Dudley was an English cartographer and explorer. He was the son of Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester and his lover Lady Douglas Sheffield, daughter of William Howard, 1st Baron Howard of Effingham. He led an expedition to the West Indies in 1594. The illegitimate son of Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, he inherited a large part of the estate of the Earl, according to the will of his father, including Kenilworth Castle. In 1603-1605 he tried adding his legitimacy at Court unsuccessfully. He decided to leave England forever and settled to Italy, where he worked as an engineer and shipbuilder. He published Dell'Arcano del Mare in Florence, the first maritime atlas to cover the whole world and the first maritime atlas of an Englishman. In Italy he styled himself Earl of Warwick and Leicester, as well as Duke of Northumberland, a title recognized by the Emperor Ferdinand II.