Catalog Archive
Auction 140, Lot 84

"America Borealis", Scherer, Heinrich

Subject: North America

Period: 1699 (dated)

Publication: Atlas Novus

Color: Hand Color

Size:
13.8 x 9 inches
35.1 x 22.9 cm
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Henrich Scherer, a mathematics professor and Jesuit, produced this work to emphasize the extent of Catholic influence in the New World. The richly engraved map shows the island of California after the Sanson model with a large mountain range. The Great Lakes are prominently depicted and the Mississippi River originates in two large lakes in present-day Canada and empties into the Sinus Mexicanus too far to the west. The map is decorated with a title cartouche, distance scale, ships and sea monsters. The title cartouche is decorated with metal ware signifying the Spanish Empire's wealth derived from the gold and silver mined in the Americas.

References: Burden #756; McLaughlin #128; Tooley (Amer) p. 131.

Condition: B+

There are a few minor extraneous creases, a small closed centerfold separation that enters 1/2" into map at bottom, and a tear that just enters map border at right that has been closed on verso with archival tape.

Estimate: $1,100 - $1,300

Sold for: $750

Closed on 5/23/2012

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