Vincenzo Coronelli was Italy's most esteemed cartographer and globe-maker. A member of the Franciscan order, he also founded the society Accademia Cosmografica degli Argonauti. Coronelli's Atlante Veneto, a compendium of geographical and scientific knowledge in twelve massive volumes, included this magnificent map. This beautiful map is based on his large globe gores of 1688. In North America, the recent French explorations in the Mississippi valley are recorded and a huge French Louisiana takes in most of the continent at the expense of the British Colonies. California is shown as an Island with a huge Detroit d'Anian separating it from Terre de Jesso off the coast of Asia. The discoveries of Tasman are shown in the South Pacific (with an erroneous date of 1684), but the Solomon Islands are not shown. Remnants of the coastline of the southern continent exist including the label Terre des Perroquets (Land of Parakeets) just south of Africa. Around the circumference of the hemisphere are wide latitude bands, which give the map a very bold appearance. Further embellished with twelve zodiacs at the sides, a curtain cartouche and a Royal coat of arms.

References: Burden #677; McLaughlin #105; Shirley #548.

Condition: A

A dark impression on a sturdy sheet with faint offsetting and minor damp stains confined to the blank margins.