Catalog Archive
Auction 139, Lot 24

Ritter's Circular Sundial World Map

"[Untitled - World]", Ritter, Franz

Subject: World

Period: 1613 (circa)

Publication: Astrolabium…

Color: Black & White

Size:
9 x 9 inches
22.9 x 22.9 cm
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This scarce and extremely unique map shows the world projected from the North Pole as if it were the table of a sundial. The landmasses are drawn to scale in proportion to their distance from the pole. The result is a very distorted, though mathematically correct, projection. The river systems in South America and Africa are quite enlarged, with the source of the Nile depicted as twin lakes south of the equator. The cartography in the South Pacific is quite conjectural, with a landmass south of Iava Maior with the coastal name of Beach regnum, and an enlarged Nova Guinea attached to another large landmass.

References: Shirley #282.

Condition: A

Trimmed and mounted on old, watermarked paper for a previous binding. There is a tiny, unobtrusive abrasion just north of the Salomon Islands and a small rust mark in Northern Africa.

Estimate: $4,000 - $5,000

Unsold

Closed on 2/15/2012

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