Subject: Western Hemisphere
Period: 1687 (circa)
Publication:
Color: Black & White
Size:
11.3 x 11.5 inches
28.7 x 29.2 cm
This rare map of the Western Hemisphere was engraved by Heinrich Irsinger, an obscure German engraver from Ulm. California as an island is featured with the coastline of Anian to the northeast of the island. In the South Pacific, New Zealand's western coastline is depicted as well as a group of Polynesian islands. In South America, the mythical Lago de los Xarayes is shown at the center of the continent. The sheet is decorated with evocative, somewhat naïve figures representing the natives of continents. According to Shirley these maps appeared in Happel's Mundus Mirabilis (1687) and Historia Moderna Europae (1692) and may have been included in other works published by Matthaeus Wagner.
References: Shirley (Corrigenda and Addenda) #535A; Shirley (Map Collector #64) p. 4.
Condition: B+
Watermarked paper with a few small, faint spots and a short centerfold separation in top blank margin. A small surface chip in North America has been professionally repaired. There are a few small damp stains and light soiling in wide, blank margins.