By the mid 1580's Sebastian Munster's maps contained
within the first recognisable "modern" Atlas
Cosmographia were becoming dated and redundant.
In 1588 this beautifully hand coloured original antique map of
America - The New world - was published in the
revised edition of Cosmographia published by Sebastian
Petri, Basle.
Most maps included were based on those of Abraham
Ortelius who's atlas was first published in 1570. Those
familiar with the maps of Ortelius will instantly
recognise the similarity.
Within this map - which is directly based on Ortelius's
1570 1st edition - there is the depiction of discoveries
of a number of people, but the general shape is derived
from Gerard Mercator's great twenty one sheet world map
published in 1569. Ortelius and Mercator had a close
relationship and regularly shared openly with each
other. One of the main features of this map is the
bulbous Chilean coastline; which was not corrected by
Ortelius until 1587, although Munster obviously did not
have access to this new plate still showing the bulging
coast in this 1588 edition. As with the Ortelius map
Munster has strategically placed the bottom cartouche
hiding the lack of knowledge of the southern waters of
the South Pacific. Once through the Straits of Magellan
the voyagers sea route took him on an almost direct
course for the east Indies. No sight has been made of a
large continent but conventional wisdom had it that has
to be as much land in the southern hemisphere as in the
northern. this was not fully dispelled until the second
voyage of the remarkable Captain James Cook in 1772-75.
The west coast of North America is shown too far west,
as was common at the time.
Sebastian Petri re-release of Cosomgraphia in 1588 produced some fine woodcut maps in the "copperplate
style". The maps in this release were more
sophisticated than with earlier publications of Cosomgraphia
and were based on the 1570 release of Abraham
Ortelius monumental work Theatrum Orbis Terrarum. (Ref:
Burden; M&B; Tooley)
General Description:
Paper thickness and quality: - Heavy and stable
Paper color: - off white
Age of map color: - Early
Colors used: - Blue, yellow, green, orange
General color appearance: - Authentic
Paper size: - 16 1/2in x 14 1/2in (420mm x 355mm)
Plate size: - 16 1/2in x 14 1/2in (420mm x 355mm)
Margins: - 1in (25mm)
Imperfections:
Margins: - Age toning, 3 small tears in top & bottom
margins
Plate area: - Two very small worm holes
Verso: - Colour showthrough
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