Published in the Venice edition of Mela’s ‘Cosmographia, sive De situs orbis’, Tony Campbell (1998) suggests that the edition’s printer, 

, may have been the mapmaker, since this and his T-O map of 1480 are the two earliest woodcut maps printed in Italy.

Ratdolt is considered one of the most important printers of the fifteenth century. Originally from Augsburg, he was active in Venice from 1476–1486 producing around seventy publications with a focus on mathematical and scientific works (including the first edition of Euclid, 1482), which are characterized by careful typography and high-quality book decoration. In Venice, he introduced multiple printing innovations including the introduction of the titlepage, production of the first known printer’s type specimen book, and was the first to print a book using tricolour diagrams. 

Printed on a Ptolemaic cone-shaped projection, the map floats within a nondescript architectural space framed by four Corinthian columns and a coffered ceiling. The title, a Latin motto, translates as: "If, in this New Age, man seeks to follow the winding paths of geography, he is bound to find the flowers that belong there, for he deserves them". The names of the winds are represented by wind heads surrounding the map, and the legends are provided in letterpress. Generally, the map is unsophisticated, taking more care to identify wind heads than geographical features. Only the three continents and the Indian Ocean are named.

Published in the same year as 

’s celebrated ‘Cosmographia’ (see: SC-TM-1482-Anon-PWorldMap), Ratdolt’s edition of Mela’s world map similarly includes additions to the Ptolemaic model. The map shows Europe, Asia (including Sri Lanka with a keyhole-shaped bay), and a large part of Africa. Notably, this was the first map to depict contemporary Portuguese knowledge of the west coast of Africa which led six years later to the rounding of the Cape of Good Hope. Noteworthy too is the depiction of the Nile, with its sources in the mountains south of two unnamed lakes, which roughly correspond to lakes Albert and Victoria. Another obvious addition is the presence of Scandinavia and, for the first time, the Orkney islands off the northeast coast of Scotland. 

, who wrote his influential work on geography ‘Cosmographia, sive De situ orbis’ around 43 CE, was the earliest known Roman geographer. He was born in Tingentera (now Algeciras, Spain) and died a few years later. His impact on geographical knowledge was monumental during the Middle Ages and continued its influence into the sixteenth century. For centuries, it remained the only formal geographical treatise available in classical Latin. It was rarely illustrated with a map before the early fifteenth century. 

Mela was the first classical geographer to postulate climatic theory. He argued that the world was divided into five zones with only the northern and southern temperate zones being inhabitable. The torrid zone in the middle of the earth and the frigid zones at the poles were inaccessible because of either unbearable heat or cold. Mela’s zonal theories of the globe were further developed by the Roman philosopher Macrobius in the fifth century who held that the two temperate zones were separated by an ocean that encircled the world. 

Mela’s work was especially important in the last quarter of the fifteenth century. It guided a number of expeditions, most famously serving as one of the principle works consulted by the Columbus brothers as they planned for their westward voyages. It was also the primary source for many contemporary cartographic works such as 

’s hugely influential world map from the ‘Nuremberg 

This lyrical map shows the world on a Ptolemaic projection hanging in space, amid four pillars. Although the map is quite simple and small in scale, it is packed with interesting content and charming decorative details. Its title captures the expeditionary zeitgeist of the early modern world: ‘If, in this New Age, man seeks to follow the winding paths of geography, he is bound to find the flowers that grow there, for he deserves them’. 

The map illustrated an early printed edition of the ‘Cosmographia’ by 

. It was the first to depict contemporary Portuguese knowledge of the west coast of Africa and was consulted by the Columbus brothers before they set out on their western voyage in 1492. It is also the source for another important and early map of the world: 

Mela’s ‘Cosmographia’, in particular his climatic theory and its proposition of a southern temperate zone with an inhabited continent ‘Antichthon’ (counter earth), had tremendous influence on Christopher Columbus’s western voyages. 

The first map to depict contemporary Portuguese knowledge of the west coast of Africa, it was consulted by the Columbus brothers before they set out on their western voyage in 1492. It is also the source for another important and early map of the world: 

 map of the world shown as suspended in an architectural setting with four columns

A Bijoux World Map from Mela's 'Cosmographia'