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Description

Fine example of Visscher's famous map of the Western Hemisphere, showing California as an Island and a small slice of New Zealand at the lower left corner, next to the title cartouche.

Visscher's map became the proto-type map for Dutch maps of America for the next 50 years. The map includes California as an Island, one massive open ended Great Lake, conjectural Northwest Passage, Straits on Anian, and rich illustration in the interior of North and South America, along with nearly a dozen ships at sea and two rich cartouches. California appears in the Briggs model, unlike later copies of the map by De Wit and others, who used the Sanson Model.

The majority of the cartographic details originate from Visscher's map which derives from Joan Blaeu's wall map of the world, published in 1648. The map includes a dedication cartouche to Nicolas Witsen, the Mayor of Amsterdam and driving force behind many voyages of commerce and discovery at the time.

The present example is the first state of Visscher's map, pre-dating the removal of the ships in the Ocean (2nd state, 1670) and pre-dating the addition of Visscher's privilege in the lower right corner (3rd state, 1677).

Condition Description
Old color. Minor fold split at top centerfold, just touching printed image.
Reference
Burden #332; McLaughlin 48.