Previously Unknown First State

Important early of Lake Geneva, published by Giacomo Franco and Lucca Bertelli.

The present map is perhaps the second earliest known map of Geneva, and is based upon the map of Giacomo Fornasieri (1589 circa), the earliest printed map of Lake Geneva, and engraved only a few years after the completion of the oldest known manuscript map of the lake buy Jean du Villard. The first detailed description of Lake Geneva is credited to the Genevan Villard, who in 1588 made an important handwritten map of the region, accompanied by a detailed list of the fish species of the lake, which is preserved at the Archives Departementales de la Savoie in Chambery.

Prior to the discovery of this map, there were two known examples of the Franco/Bertelli map of Geneva (Bayerische Staatsbibliothek and Vilnius, University Library). The present map is an previously unknown earlier state of the map, which does not include the scale of miles.