Subject: World
Period: 1657 (circa)
Publication:
Color: Hand Color
Size:
18.7 x 12.2 inches
47.5 x 31 cm
An exquisitely decorated double hemisphere world map, surrounded by engravings including allegorical representations of the continents as well as native inhabitants and wildlife. This is Visscher's first world map to be included in Dutch Bibles. It was so popular that the surrounding decorations were copied by several other cartographers. Two celestial spheres are displayed in the Eastern Hemisphere. In the lower part of the Western Hemisphere text describes the discovery of America and recent voyages of discovery. Two diagrams depicting the Ptolemaic and Copernican theories of the solar system are tucked between the hemispheres. The northwest coast of North America is exaggerated and shows California correctly as a peninsula. Parts of Australia and Van Diemen's Land are shown but the north and east coasts of Australia are not depicted. Dutch text on verso.
References: Shirley #401; Poortman & Augusteijn #83.
Condition: B+
A nice impression that has been remargined at left and right with old paper, with a quarter inch of the image along the right border expertly replaced along with a tiny portion of the image in facsimile. There is minor show-through of text on verso, and several short centerfold separations at bottom that have been repaired with archival materials on verso.