Also in transition was the Earth itself, as after all, its surface was being ‘discovered’. Its face was also becoming more clearly defined with each new exploration and subsequent map revision. Just twenty years before Mauro’s map – as if anticipating the need to get such priceless information to the world – Gutenberg (1400-1468) developed his revolutionary printing press. The first printed map in 1477 followed the first printed Bible in 1440. Both were documents that would support, in very distinct ways, the emergence of international humanism.

Atlas (Black Sea) Petrus Vesconte, 1313 Parchment, 48 x 40 cm Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris