The Hondius world map of 1617 was the prototype for a series of maps by French publishers who combined Hondius' geographical information with the more scientific border decorations from Boisseau's map of 1636. The map depicts the discovery of the Le Maire Strait at the tip of South America. In North America, the St. Lawrence River runs nearly the entire width of the continent, terminating in a large lake not far from the infamous Civolo 7 citta (7 cities of Cibola). Hudson Bay is depicted after the work of Gerritsz. In Asia, Korea is shown as an island, the northern coast of New Guinea is more properly located and there is a large Terra Australis Incognita with Boach named in the region of the Australian continent. The surrounding engravings include a pair of celestial charts, circular diagrams containing the compass points, the names of the winds, the climatic zones, the heavenly orbits and a thirty-year calendar. The map is richly adorned with a variety of decorations including three cartouches, two featuring native figures, numerous sailing ships, sea monsters, flying fish and a depiction of Neptune. This is the first state with Mariette's imprint. Although dated 1642, this was likely published in the 1653 edition of Mariette's Theatre Geographique de France.

References: Shirley #358; Pastoureau, MARIETTE B #C.1.

Condition: B+

A fine impression, issued folding and now flattened on watermarked paper with light soiling. There are professional repairs to a small hole at far left as well as a few short separations and tiny holes along the folds. The left and right margins have been extended to accommodate framing.