Spectacular wall map elegantly engraved with incredible detail. The map is based on De Fer's map of 1713 and focuses on the Americas but also includes all of the Pacific with the East Indies and Japan, and all of the Atlantic with a good deal of western Europe and Africa. CALIFORNIA IS SHOWN AS AN ISLAND with a notation alluding to the controversy provoked by Father Kino's map of the peninsular form. Explorers tracks, notably those of Magellan and Le Maire, are shown in the South Pacific and the established trade routes are shown throughout the oceans. The map is filled with vignettes providing a panorama of the New World and illuminating the native culture and indigenous flora and fauna. The vignettes are enclosed in a rococo framework and include a spectacular view of Niagara Falls with the famous depiction of a beaver colony, a scene of the cod fisheries in Newfoundland, the rituals of the Aztecs and Incas including human sacrifice, mining and sugar operations in South America, and nine portrait medallions of explorers from the Discovery Period.

References: McLaughlin #190; Schwartz/Ehrenberg, plt. #85; Tooley (America) #80, p. 130.

Condition: A+

An exceptionally fine example of this large scale map, on four joined sheets. There are two old repairs of short fold separations, else completely mint with very fine color.