Volume III of the monumental atlas, ‘L’Orbe Cattolico ossia Atlante Geografico Storico Ecclesiastico’.

PETRI Girolamo's extremely rare Atlas volume III of the monumental atlas, ‘L’Orbe Cattolico ossia Atlante Geografico Storico Ecclesiastico’, respectively depicting ecclesiastical divisions of the Roman Catholic on the continents of Asia, Africa and America, prepared for the Vatican’s State Secretariat by Girolamo Petri. 

Volume three contains 40 large-format, Plano copper-engraved maps, original full-color hand-colored, on fine-wove paper watermarked with ‘Pietro Miliani Fabriano’. Published in Rome: Tipografia della Reverenda Camera Apolostica, 1858.

The atlas is bound in contemp. half vellum, boards covered with marbled paper. (needs restoration) 
Asia: This part contains nine plano maps, each followed by a 2-page descriptive text in 4 columns.
Africa: contains five plano maps, each accompanied by a 2-page descriptive text in 4 columns.
America: The American section contains 21 Plano maps, each accompanied by a 2-page descriptive text in 4 columns. The American section includes a map of the United States depicting five Ecclesiastical Provinces. Perhaps most curious is that the Ecclesiastical Province of St. Louis, including New Mexico, Tennessee, and the three parts of “Illinese,” was all then part of the Ecclesiastical Province of San Luigi (St. Louis).
Oceania : 5 maps. Including Maps of Australia.

The large-format maps are finely engraved and beautifully colored and were prepared by Girolamo Petri, a lawyer who served as a senior official within the Vatican’s State Secretariat, the arm of the Holy See responsible for managing its relationships with foreign powers.

The atlas is a testament to the artistry of the engravers and the publisher's relative indifference to the work's commercial success. It is undoubtedly one of the most finely engraved and elegant works of the mid-19th Century.
The uncommonly beautiful atlas was published in only a very small number of examples for the exclusive use of Cardinals and high-ranking administrators, which accounts for its great rarity today.

Petri’s monumental atlas of the Church’s worldwide ecclesiastical divisions was published in Rome in three volumes from 1858 to 1859.  Volume I contains maps of Italy. Volume II with maps of European countries, containing 47 maps of the European countries and a World map). Volume III with maps of countries in Asia, Africa, America and Oceania.
The maps show the various dioceses, each distinguished by bright colors marking their seats, as well as other major towns. While key geographical features are expressed throughout, the maps are intentionally sparing of detail so as not to visually detract from their purpose, which is to show the ecclesiastical divisions.

Petri was commissioned by Pope Pius XI (reigned 1846-78), the longest ever reigning pontiff, to create this magnificent atlas during a time when the Church was under siege within Europe, but, conversely, while it had major ambitions for expansion overseas, particularly in Asia and Africa.

Pope Pius IX (1792 - 1878)
was born Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti. His reign as Pope ran from 1846 until his death in 1878, the longest pontificate in the Catholic Church's history. Among the pontificate's historically significant events was the end of the Papal States.
Beginning with the unrest in Rome, which led to the declaration of a Roman Republic in 1849, through the period of Austrian and French protection under Napoleon III of France, and culminating with Victor Emmanuel II's reunification of Italy and arrest of the Pope in 1870.
Petri, who was commissioned by Pope Pius XI, was thus created during a time when the Church was under siege within Europe. Conversely, it had major ambitions for expansion overseas, particularly in Asia and Africa.
The mid-19th Century was a period of dramatic change in Rome. The atlas was undoubtedly part of the Vatican's last-ditch efforts to understand and control its vast influence worldwide. It resurrected the popular concept of ecclesiastical provinces popularized in works by Nicholas Sanson and others during the 17th Century.

Girolamo Petri: Merging Church and Cartography.
Girolamo Petri (1806 - 1871) was an important figure in the administration of the Roman Catholic Church during the reign of Pius IX. He was born in Onano (Viterbo, Lazio), the son of a Vatican civil servant who subsequently became the Governor of Frascati. Petri trained as a lawyer and took on many cases for the Church until being appointed, in 1847, to serve as a senior official in the State Secretariat. This curia body oversaw the Church’s overseas operations. Petri was a great cartography enthusiast, and it was only fitting that Pius IX charged him with creating the magnificent atlas, L’Orbe Cattolico.

In creating the atlas, Petri noted that he drew only upon the “most trusted sources”, including maps from the Vatican archives and overseas dioceses. The atlas was by far and away the finest ecclesiastical atlas created during the 19th Century, featuring exceptionally beautiful examples of thematic cartography.

A Note on Rarity
The atlas L’Orbe Cattolico is a great rarity—we cannot find any examples of it appearing in the market during the last 30 years, although a number of examples have been held in institutional collections since the 19th Century.

References: Walter Goffart, Historical Atlases: The First Three Hundred Years, 1570-1870 (Chicago, 2003), p. 427-8; J.A.B. Jongeneel, Philosophy, Science, and Theology of Mission in the 19th and 20th Centuries: A Missiological Encyclopedia (1995), p. 264

 EXTRA SHIPPING COSTS APPLYING DUE TO WEIGHT AND SIZE.