Girolamo Ruscelli; 1504-1566.

A Venetian editor of fame, Ruscelli is mostly known for his 1561 edition of a Ptolemy's Geographia. This atlas was re-edited a number of times, in particular in 1562, 1564, 1574, 1598 and 1599. For this purpose, he used slightly larger versions of the maps Giacomo Gastaldi compiled in 1548 for his own Geographia, and a few other maps derived from earlier works.

Tabula Europae II.

This trapezoidal map (10" approx X 7 1/8") is a remake of the 1482 Francisco Berlinghieri map by the same name.
The present item was designed in 1561, it was printed for the 1574 issue of Geographia.
Its amazingly archaic coastal delineation is due to the source material. Notice also the quasi comical hydrography (the Ebro River empties in the Atlantic and in the Mediterranean…).
Some towns are easy to identify: Barcinon, Taracon, Valetia, Cartago Nova, Selambina, Corduba, Complutica, Pampelon; nowadays respectively Barcelona, Tarragona, Valencia, Cartagena, Salobrena, Cordoba, (Espinoso de) Compludo, Pamplona.
Others have changed names; Ilerda, Valeria, Ispalis, Emerita Augusta, Balsa, Lancobriga; nowadays: Lerida, Cuenca, Sevilla, Merida, Tavira, Santa Maria da Feira.
Notice also the strait of Gibraltar "fretum herculeum" marked with a column (in ancient times the straits were known as the "Pillars of Hercules").
Italian text on verso: explanations of the Ptolemy partition of the Peninsula in only three provinces: Hispania (or Aragon), Lusitania (or Portugal), and Betica (or Granada); and list of their main cities.