Antonio Zatta (1757-1797) was an Italian printer and publisher, active in Venice. He published informative and beautifully engraved works showing new discoveries, the most important of which was the ‘Atlante Novissimo’, published between 1779 and 1785. It incorporated the latest travel accounts and exploration, and contained the first representation of the new islands explored by Captain Cook in an Italian atlas. Zatta’s other significant works include ‘Nouve scoperte de’ Russi al nord’ in 1776, which shows a Chinese colony where Vancouver Island is now located, and ‘America Settentrionale’ in 1780, which shows two straits which appear to join in the middle to form a Strait of Anian or Northwest Passage.

The present work was also published by Zatta in 1780, and lists all his available stock “both old and recent” in alphabetical order. All of the items are accompanied by a printed price and imprint information. The penultimate leaf contains a list of maps for sale. The forty-five maps are each individually priced, his 15-sheet map of France is the most expensive at 22 Lira 10 soldi, with his 12-sheet map of America after Mitchell priced at 18 Lira. Zatta states his intention to publish a further two maps each month, in order to form a world atlas. The endeavour would take a further five years, when in 1785 the ‘Atlante Novissimo’, was finally published.