A. Cusco in West Indien, by Daniel Meisner, from Sciographia Cosmica, circa 1642 (5.6 x 2.9"). This miniature view of Cuzco is taken from De Bry's depiction of the Inca city, laid out in a rectangular grid before the temple and surrounded by impressive walled fortifications. Two natives are shown logging in the foreground. The verse tells of their ingenuity in the absence of iron tools by felling trees with fire and splitting logs with wooden wedges.

Meisner's emblem book, containing over 800 pictorial-poetic compositions, was enormously popular throughout Europe in the 17th century. The plan views were based on the work of De Bry, Braun & Hogenberg, Merian, and others, with the addition of emblematic figures or scenes in the foreground, juxtaposed with moralizing and edifying verses beneath the image and a Latin motto at top. It was originally issued with 52 plates as the Thesaurus Philo-politicus in 1623-24. After Meisner's death in 1625, Eberhard Kieser, with assistance from Johann L. Gottfried, completed the work and published it until 1631. The plates then appeared in the eight parts of Sciographia Cosmica published by Paulus Furst between 1637-78. The plates for these editions were renumbered alphanumerically in the upper right corners. They were finally issued in 1700 and 1704 in Rudolf J. Helmer's Politica-politica. Reference: King (2nd ed.) pp. 104-5. Condition: A dark impression on watermarked paper with a bit of coloring on the two figures in the foreground, light foxing, and a bit of soiling. (B+)

B. Cusco, by Alphonsus Lasor a Varea, from Universus Terrarum Orbis, circa 1713 (5.3 x 3.3"). This miniature bird's-eye view of Cusco is based on an engraving by Francesco Valegio (whose imprint appears at bottom). The city, once the capital of the Inca Empire before the Spanish conquest, is laid out in an orderly rectangular grid and surrounded by walled fortifications. The Qorikancha temple is prominent, with the modifications that the Spanish made to convert it into a church and convent. Indigenous figures fill the foreground. Lasor a Varea, whose real name was Raffaello Savonarola, published his two-volume scriptural and historical dictionary with nearly 500 maps that were taken from old plates by Valegio, Porcacchi, Rosaccio-Franco, and Magini, many of which were more than a century old, and often reworked. On a sheet of Latin text measuring 8.4 x 12.7". References: Phillips (Atlases) #3475-313; Shirley (BL Atlases) T.LAS-1a #156. Condition: There are two minor printer's creases at the bottom of the image, and a few spots of foxing below the image. (A)

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See description above.