This large, handsome, and uncommon map is based on the work of the famous French cartographer Guillaume Delisle. The northwest coast of North America is left completely blank. The routes of several important explorers and their discoveries are marked, including Magellan, Tasman, Noort, Gaytan, Quiros, and Mendana. Australia and New Zealand are only partially mapped. One of the most interesting features of the map is the appearance in the North Atlantic of the mythical island of Frislandia, which disappeared from most maps in the late seventeenth century. The map is set into an finely engraved framework with two polar spheres and a delightful baroque title cartouche featuring the allegorical female representations of the continents.

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Condition: B+

On a clean, bright sheet of watermarked paper. The neatline and margins at left and right have been professionally reattached, and there are short centerfold separations in the top and bottom blank margins. There are additional coastlines that have been added in manuscript from an aspiring cartographer, most notably in Alaska and the South Pacific.