{"product_id":"moscovia-ruscelli-map-of-russia-1561","title":"MOSCOVIA by Ruscelli  — V Rare Map of Russia - c1561","description":"\u003cp\u003eGirolamo Ruscelli after Giacomo Gastaldi, \u003cem data-end=\"438\" data-start=\"392\"\u003eLa Geografia di Claudio Tolomeo Alessandrino\u003c\/em\u003e, Venice, 1561–1599\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-end=\"879\" data-start=\"508\"\u003eThis extremely rare and special map \u003cem data-end=\"544\" data-start=\"519\"\u003e“Moscovia Nuova Tavola”\u003c\/em\u003e is among the earliest modern printed maps of Muscovy (Russia), adapted by Girolamo Ruscelli from the influential 1550 map of Giacomo Gastaldi, the official cosmographer to the Venetian Republic. It first appeared in Ruscelli’s 1561 edition of \u003cem data-end=\"820\" data-start=\"798\"\u003ePtolemy’s Geographia\u003c\/em\u003e published by Valgrisi, and later in reissues through 1599.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-end=\"1409\" data-start=\"881\"\u003eThe plate portrays European Russia and western Siberia, stretching from Scandinavia and the Baltic in the west to the Ural region and Central Asia in the east. Rivers such as the Volga and the Don are carefully rendered, and numerous ethnographic groups are named — \u003cem data-end=\"1204\" data-start=\"1151\"\u003eTartaria, Nogai Tartari, Circassia, Alania, Zagatay\u003c\/em\u003e — reflecting the fragmented understanding of the Russian steppe world by Italian cosmographers. Mountain ranges are stylized in the typical Ptolemaic fashion, with wave-like hatching and tiny fort cities.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-end=\"1700\" data-start=\"1411\"\u003eThe verso text (“Moscovia Secunda Tavola Nuova D’Asia”) explains to Italian readers that Muscovy, though often considered part of Europe, was classified here under Asia — a reflection of mid-sixteenth-century geographical conventions when Russia’s imperial borders were expanding eastward.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-end=\"1700\" data-start=\"1411\"\u003eWhy this map is SUPER RARE and interesting: \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"text-base my-auto mx-auto pb-10 [--thread-content-margin:--spacing(4)] thread-sm:[--thread-content-margin:--spacing(6)] thread-lg:[--thread-content-margin:--spacing(16)] px-(--thread-content-margin)\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"[--thread-content-max-width:40rem] thread-lg:[--thread-content-max-width:48rem] mx-auto max-w-(--thread-content-max-width) flex-1 group\/turn-messages focus-visible:outline-hidden relative flex w-full min-w-0 flex-col agent-turn\" tabindex=\"-1\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"flex max-w-full flex-col grow\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv data-message-model-slug=\"gpt-5\" class=\"min-h-8 text-message relative flex w-full flex-col items-end gap-2 text-start break-words whitespace-normal [.text-message+\u0026amp;]:mt-1\" dir=\"auto\" data-message-id=\"fd200758-6dda-4c28-8650-f65bc579c322\" data-message-author-role=\"assistant\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"flex w-full flex-col gap-1 empty:hidden first:pt-[1px]\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"markdown prose dark:prose-invert w-full break-words light markdown-new-styling\"\u003e\n\u003cp data-is-only-node=\"\" data-is-last-node=\"\" data-end=\"1302\" data-start=\"0\"\u003eThe \u003cem data-end=\"27\" data-start=\"4\"\u003eMoscovia Nuova Tavola\u003c\/em\u003e is packed with place-names that reveal how Renaissance Europe imagined Russia and Central Asia at the dawn of empire. Many of these names have vanished from modern maps, their echoes surviving only in chronicles or regional memory. The broad label Tartaria stretches across the steppe, encompassing the nomadic Nogai Tartars and the distant realm of Zagatay, recalling the Mongol khanates that once ruled the region. To the south appear Alania and Circassia, ancient Caucasian kingdoms later absorbed or destroyed, while Permia marks one of the earliest printed references to the Urals. Along the Volga—here called the Edil—stand the new conquests of Ivan the Terrible: Cazan and Astracan, signalling Muscovy’s advance toward the Caspian Sea. Classical survivals like Sarmatia, Scythia, and the Monti Riphei show the map’s fusion of myth and observation, blending ancient texts with ambassadorial reports. Even Natolia, misplaced north of the Black Sea, reflects Venetian uncertainty about Asia’s limits. Together these hybrid names chart not only territory but perception: a sixteenth-century world where legend, commerce, and empire intertwined, and where cartography was still an act of imagination as much as of geography.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch4 data-end=\"1725\" data-start=\"1702\"\u003eScholarly Note\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp data-end=\"2232\" data-start=\"1726\"\u003eRuscelli’s \u003cem data-end=\"1747\" data-start=\"1737\"\u003eMoscovia\u003c\/em\u003e is not merely a geographic document but a cultural artifact of Venetian intelligence on Eastern Europe at a moment when trade routes to Persia and Cathay were being reconsidered after the fall of Constantinople. It helped Western scholars visualize a region known largely through the reports of ambassadors and travelers such as Baron Sigismund von Herberstein. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-end=\"2232\" data-start=\"1726\"\u003eSize:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli data-end=\"615\" data-start=\"530\"\u003e\n\u003cp data-end=\"615\" data-start=\"532\"\u003eEngraved image (within plate mark): 18.5 × 25.0 cm (7.3 × 9.8 in)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli data-end=\"694\" data-start=\"616\"\u003e\n\u003cp data-end=\"694\" data-start=\"618\"\u003eFull sheet (with text verso): 25.0 × 35.0 cm (9.8 × 13.8 in)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp data-end=\"2232\" data-start=\"1726\"\u003eVerso text translation:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;\"\u003eMoscovia (Russia) — Second map of Asia – 1561\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;\"\u003eEnglish translation of Map Verso:\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: justify;\" class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e--- \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-end=\"203\" data-start=\"161\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-end=\"173\" data-start=\"161\"\u003eMOSCOVIA\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr data-end=\"176\" data-start=\"173\"\u003e\u003cem data-end=\"203\" data-start=\"176\"\u003eSecond new table of Asia.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-end=\"712\" data-start=\"205\"\u003eMoscovia, which is contained in this table, is a very great country, so called from the river Moscò, governed by its own lord, very powerful, and Christian, who follows in religion and customs the Greek Church. It has many large plains and good parts of Tartary; it is a flat country, with many forests, marshes, and rivers. It is extremely cold and frozen, in such a way that no other kind of trees or fruits grow there, except the cherry tree, although some affirm that there is also corn in the fields.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-end=\"1125\" data-start=\"714\"\u003eIn these parts flows the river Alce, which they commonly call the great bog. The people feed themselves with flesh of deer and of fish, and they make a kind of drink out of milk; they go on foot, on horseback, or by sleigh, and they also travel with carts drawn by dogs, which they call \u003cem data-end=\"1010\" data-start=\"1001\"\u003egranchi\u003c\/em\u003e (crabs). They say they have mines of silver, and they trade much with the princes and other neighboring regions.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-end=\"1331\" data-start=\"1127\"\u003eThey say also that the people are very skilled in divination, and that many among them have communication with evil spirits; and it is said that in former times the heresy that ended in Moscow began here.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: justify;\" class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;\"\u003e---\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"175\" data-end=\"1008\"\u003eThis Renaissance description of \u003cem data-start=\"207\" data-end=\"217\"\u003eMoscovia\u003c\/em\u003e reflects how 16th-century Italian geographers viewed Russia as a liminal space between Christendom and the mysterious, half-pagan East. Drawn from Venetian editions of Ptolemy’s \u003cem data-start=\"396\" data-end=\"408\"\u003eGeographia\u003c\/em\u003e, it fuses factual observation vast forests, frozen plains, deer and fish diets with moralized rumor. The final paragraph, describing “communication with evil spirits” and an ancient “heresy that ended in Moscow,” reveals Western Europe’s anxiety toward Orthodox Christianity, then considered schismatic and culturally alien. Such texts combined theology and ethnography, portraying Muscovy as both a frontier of faith and a land of superstition. For collectors, this passage epitomizes early modern Europe’s blend of geographic discovery, religious polemic, and fascination with the unknown North.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Lumenrare Antique Prints \u0026 Maps","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56331463459199,"sku":"LR-RUS-MOSCOVIA-1561","price":1200.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0951\/8356\/9279\/files\/moscovia-by-ruscelli-v-rare-map-of-russia-c1561-6415472.jpg?v=1763486408","url":"https:\/\/lumenrare.com\/products\/moscovia-ruscelli-map-of-russia-1561","provider":"Lumenrare Antique Prints \u0026 Maps","version":"1.0","type":"link"}