Description
The Robert S. Benner collection of nautical charts consists of 22 nautical charts created in the late 17th century and mid-18th
century. The majority of the nautical charts in the collection come from Francesco Maria Levanto's (1650-1718)
Prima Parte dello Specchio del Mare, nel quale si Descrivono Tutti li Porti, Spiaggie, Baye, Isole, Scogli, e Seccagni del
Mediterraneo
, originally issued in 1663, with a later edition published in 1695. All of Francesco Maria Levanto's charts are numbered
in the lower-right corner of each chart with descriptions in Italian. Levanto's charts map various Mediterranean ports, coasts,
and islands. The collection also holds two nautical charts that are not part of the Francesco Maria Levanto set, which are
unnumbered and captioned in English instead of Italian. The donor of the collection, Robert S. Benner, identified the two
unnumbered charts as being from around the mid-18th century. One of the unnumbered charts shows the northwest coast of Ireland
and the other shows "The Sea Coast of Languedoc Provence and Part of Italy; from Cape Dragon to Cape Delle Melle." Lastly,
the collection includes a binder of photocopies of the charts compiled by Robert S. Benner and an SD memory card with digital
image files of the charts.
Restrictions
All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Department of Special
Collections at specol@usc.edu. Permission for publication is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical
items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.