This important title page includes the earliest representation of California as an Island, here in the uncommon first edition. The small Western Hemisphere is presented on a trapezoidal projection in simple format with no place names or any interior geographical information. A prominent Northwest Passage adds further interest to the map. It apparently is a copy of the one accompanying Friar Antonio de la Ascension's report to the Council of the Indies and the King of Spain, October1620. That map was stolen by the Dutch from a Spanish vessel, thus beginning the theory of California's insularity that lasted more than a century. Eight vignettes of Aztec gods and ceremonies flank the title with a Castilian coat-of-arms at its center, and natives in dugout canoes flank the map. This is the first edition, published by Michael Colijn, this example is bound with the accompanying fascicle of 29 pages of Dutch text, with the second Dutch title page dated 1621. The binding is later, with marbled paper covers.

References: Burden #195; McLaughlin #TP-1.

Condition: B+

A sound example with a some damp staining and one rust spot. The accompanying text is also lightly damp stained.