Subject: Western Hemisphere - America
Period: 1661 (dated)
Publication:
Color: Hand Color
Size:
14.4 x 10.8 inches
36.6 x 27.4 cm
This rare derivative of Hondius' influential map of 1618 is a reduced version of a map of the same title by Petrus Bertius & Melchior Tavernier (1627). The map improves on Hondius by completing the coastline of Tierra del Fuego. California is still shown as a peninsula, although the Baja Peninsula is now isolated by two oddly crossed rivers, opening the possibility that it may be an island. The western coast of America is elongated and filled with place names, and there is a large inland sea in New Mexico. The Great Lakes are only suggested, and the region of New England is named Norumbega. South America has tiny engraved natives and trees, and two large mythical lakes, Eupana and Parime are shown in the interior. There are insets of both the North and South Poles. The South Pole is a large continent, with two places noted: Beach Province, in reference to a place noted by Marco Polo, and Pays des Paroquets (Country of the Parakeets). The North Pole has the typical cartography of the time, with a bit of information from James and Hudson's expeditions shown. This is the second state of the map, with the date changed to 1661.
References: Burden #256.
Condition: A
A crisp impression on a bright sheet with a bunch of grapes watermark, issued folding and now flattened with some extraneous creasing along the left-hand fold and a printer's crease at top center.