|
||
|
|
|
|
A striking large format map of America, published in Leiden by Pierre Vander Aa.
The map features California as an Island and a projection of the Mississippi pushed far to the west, with the mouth of the river near the Rio Grande. Noteworthy, as both California was known not to be an island by this point, and the lower Mississippi had been mapped to a reasonable degree. The projection of South America is also unusually wide for the period. Carl Wheat suggests that based off the archaic geographies that "here was certainly a 'throwback' map, though by a famous mapmaker who should have known better."
The cartouche depicts a European notion of the New World and the Native Americans who populated it, though it is one of the most decorative and well-engraved illustrations of the time. A small village is shown, in which Native Americans are practicing archery and cannibalism while a European-looking head lies at the base, impaled by an arrow. A large iguana crawls along the foreground, while plates commemorating Columbus and Vespucci lie in the background.
The map includes a variety of annotations in Latin. Many settlements, rivers, and geomorphological features are shown. In all, it is a beautifully drawn and anachronistic map for the period.
Leighly 124 & 140
Pieter van der Aa (1659-1733) was a Dutch mapmaker and publisher who printed pirated editions of foreign bestsellers and illustrated books, but is best known for his voluminous output of maps and atlases. Van der Aa was born to a German stonecutter from Holstein. Interestingly, all three van der Aa sons came to be involved in the printing business. Hildebrand was a copper engraver and Boudewyn was a printer.
![[ World Atlas ] L'Europe en Plusieurs Cartes Nouvelles et Exactes [bound with] L'Asie en Plusieurs Cartes Nouvelles et Exactes [and] L'Afrique en Plusieurs Cartes Nouvelles et Exactses [and] L'Amerique en Plusieurs Nouvelles et Exactes](https://storage.googleapis.com/raremaps/img/small/95822.jpg)