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Description

Unrecorded map of the South Polar regions, bearing a credit identifying the maps as by De Fer (excu avec privilege du Roy).

While the map would initially appear to be the work of Jean Boisseau or Pierre Du Val (who is credited with what appears to be an earlier state of the map ( nla.gov.au/nla.map-rm2347 ), the present map bears the imprint of De Fer, which would almost certainly be Antoine De Fer.

The map provides a very early south polar projection, including the mythical Terre Australis Inconnuie, and an early look at the Straits of Magellan, shortly after Brouwer's discovery of the the open sea south of Tierra del Fuego, the last of the major discoveries in this region, which began to erode the myth of the unknown southern continent. Its is noteworthy that this state of the map includes the references to Brouwer's Passage, Terre de Feu and Detroit le Maire, suggesting that the present map map post-date the example in the National Library of Australia.

Rarity

The map is exceptionally rare and may in fact be unrecorded in this edition.