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. German text on verso.

References: Shirley #401; Poortman & Augusteijn #83.

Condition: B

Light soiling with some small abrasions in the bottom corners. The left margin has been extended, and the map has been professionally remargined at right, with loss of a vertical strip of image at far right measuring between 1/4" and 1/2" that has been skillfully replaced in facsimile.