This
magnificent and classical original antique map of America - the
quintessential image of 17th century maps of the New
World - was published for the 1662 Latin edition of
Joan Blaeus Atlas Major.
This map is in beautiful original condition with fresh
hand colouring on heavy, stable paper with appropriate
age colour and toning. The image has a heavy and deep
impression denoting an early pressing. A significant
bonus is this map has not been cropped and has the
original margins as published.
Background:
Originally issued by Joan Blaeus
father, Willem,. as early as 1617, this general map of
the Americas was one of the longest lived plates in all
the Blaeu's
atlases, having been used as an atlas map from 1630.
Here is the general seventeenth century European view of
the Western Hemisphere: the delineation of the coasts
and the nomenclature of the Pacific as well as the
Atlantic coasts are basically Spanish in origin and
follow the maps of the Fleming Abraham Ortelius and his
countryman Cornelis Wytfliet. To these, Willem Blaeu
inserted, on the east coast, the English names given by
the Roanoke colonists in Virginia, and by Martin
Frobisher, John Davis and Henry Hudson in the far north.
In Florida and along the St Lawrence, Blaeu added the
names given by the French settlers, almost the only
memorials to their ill-fated venture in Florida during
the latter part of the sixteenth century.
When Blaeu first made his map in the early years of the
seventeenth century, Europeans still had no real
knowledge of the nature of the Mississippi system. From
the expedition journals of Hernando de Soto (1539 -
1543) they had inferred an extensive range of mountains
trending eastwards to the north of the Gulf of Mexico in
la Florida apparently precluding a great river
system. The Great Lakes were as yet unknown although by
the time Blaeu issued this map in its atlas form in the
Huron region together with the hearsay accounts from
Coral Indians were becoming well known through his 1632
map of the region. Evidently, this appears to have been
unknown to Blaeu at the time, but surprisingly, he never
incorporated the information on later printings of the
map. The same applies to Manhattan and Long Island as
well, despite the fact that only a short distance from
Amsterdam, the Leiden academic Johannes D Late had
published the first edition of his monumental work on
the Americas which provided source material for any
number of maps of the Americas throughout the remainder
of the century and beyond.
In common with the other general continental maps in
Blaeus atlas's, he has provided perspective plans or
views of settlements in the Americas, including Havana,
St Domingo, Cartagena, Mexico, Cusco, Potisi, I.la Moca
in Chile, Rio Janeiro and Olianda in Pharnambucco, as
well as the vignette illustrations of native figures
taken from the accounts of John White (Virginia) or Hans
Staden (Brazil) and others. (Ref: Burden; RGS; Koeman; Tooley)
General Description:
Paper thickness and quality: - Heavy and stable
Paper color: - White
Age of map color: - Original & some later colour
Colors used: - Pink, green, yellow, blue
General color appearance: - Authentic & beautiful
Paper size: - 24in x 23in (610mm x 585mm)
Plate size: - 21 3/4in x 16 1/4in (550mm x 412mm)
Margins: - Min 1in (25mm)
Imperfections:
Margins: - Professional repair to bottom margin, not
affecting image. Age toning
Plate area: - Age toning
Verso: - Age toning
If you wish to discuss this or any other item
please email or call...Simon
61 (0) 409 551910 Tel
simon@classicalimages.com
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