This small, uncommon map shows the region according to Engelbert Kaempfer, a German explorer who traveled throughout Asia in the late 17th century. In 1727, his History of Japan was published posthumously and became a principal source of knowledge for Europeans as Japan's borders were closed to foreigners. The map itself shows Japan with some detail, but the coasts of both Asia and North America very deformed. A note in the Pacific states that after encountering difficulties between the 40th and 50th parallel, they recognized a very large continent stretching far to the northwest. The Kaempfer map was frequently compared with the Buache/Delisle depiction of the Pacific Northwest, which included numerous possible routes for a Northwest Passage. In fact, Robert de de Vaugondy issued a map in 1772 directly comparing these two models entitled Carte des Nouvelles Decouvertes Dressee par Phil. Bauche… [on sheet with] Extrait d'une Carte Japonise de l'Univers….

This map was first published in Buache's Considerations Geographiques et Physiques sure les Nouvelles Decouvertes au Nord de la Grande Mer... in 1753-54 (issued with two maps on one sheet). The present example was issued shortly thereafter in a volume of the Memoires de l'Academie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres (Academy of Humanities), one of the five academies of the Institut de France.

References: cf. Phillips (Atlases) #3342-6; cf. Howes #B-908; cf. Streeter Sale #3451.

Condition: B+

Issued folding on watermarked paper with light offsetting and a few faint spots.