Label 8: 1597-98 Cernoti
Cernoti’s version of Ptolemy from 1597-98 shows how far into the 16th century Ptolemy continued to provide a framework for depicting the new world discoveries.
The second image contains the Ptolemaic projection mentioned earlier in the exhibit, while the third contains what appears to be the Ortelius projection.
The fourth image depicts modern day Russia as "Tartaria". The American continent seems in close geographical proximity to Japan.
The fifth and sixth images appear to constitute the Mercator projection, which projects the earth's surface onto a cylinder. This projection creates greater and greater distortion as one approaches the earth’s poles.
According to Bennett, ”… a navigator could set down a rule between two points and find the compass bearing that would take him along the indicated course.” But concerning its navigational usefulness, Gaspar claims that "...Mercator’s world map of 1569 was useless for navigation at the time it was created because navigation was something different from his idealised concept."
Woodward claims that "geographic coordinates were ... mainly of scholarly and not practical concern until reliable astronomical measurements of both longitude and latitude became available in the late eighteenth century, after a satisfactory chronometer had been developed.”
Apian and Galileo working on how to accurately determine longitude. A Museo Galileo website describes Galileo's effort to gauge longitude; to show "that Jupiter and its moons could be observed on unstable ground, such as a ship's deck, Galileo designed a special helmet carrying a small telescope on a hinged mount."
Leonardo Cernoti.
Geografia : cioè Descrittione vniversale della terra partita in due volumi nel primo de ̓quali si contengono gli otto libri della geografia.
Venice: G. B .& G. Galignani, 1597-98.
Lehigh University Catalog Record: https://asa.lib.lehigh.edu/Record/257854