Digital Rare Book :
India in the Fifteenth Century - Being a collection of narratives of voyages to India, in the century preceding the Portuguese discovery of the Cape of Good Hope ; from Latin, Persian, Russian, and Italian sources, now first translated into English.
By Major Richard Henry
Printed for the Hakluyt Society, London - 1857

Image :
Girolomo Ruscelli: Calecut Nuova Tavola
Fine dark impression of Ruscelli's modern map of India, one of the earliest modern maps of the region.
Source :
Courtesy of Barry Lawrence Ruderman Antique Maps

Ruscelli's Atlas is an expanded edition of Gastaldi's Atlas of 1548, which has been called the most comprehensive atlas produced between Martin Waldseemüller's Geographiae of 1513, and the Abraham Ortelius Theatrum of 1570. Ruscelli and Gastaldi's maps were beautifully engraved on copper, marking a turning point in the history of cartography. From that point forward, the majority of cartographic works used this medium. As it was a harder material than wood it gave the engraver the ability to render more detail.