Worldly Consumers: The Demand for Maps in Renaissance Italy

Though the practical value of maps during the sixteenth century is well documented, their personal and cultural importance has been relatively underexamined. In Worldly Consumers, Genevieve Carlton explores the growing availability of maps to private consumers during the Italian Renaissance and shows how map acquisition and display became central tools for constructing personal identity and impressing one's peers.

Drawing on a variety of sixteenth-century sources, including household inven...