Catalog Archive
Auction 112, Lot 677

"Totius Africae Tabula & descriptio Universalis etiam ultra Ptolemaei extensa", Munster, Sebastian

Subject: Africa

Period: 1550 (circa)

Publication:

Color: Hand Color

Size:
13.5 x 10 inches
34.3 x 25.4 cm
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This is one of the first modern maps of the whole continent. The Ptolemaic geography, with large rivers and convoluted mountains, is augmented from Portuguese and Arabic sources. From the Portuguese comes Caput Bonespei (Cape of Good Hope) and a small group of islands off the eastern coast named Zaphala Aurifodina that were supposedly the region from which King Solomon imported gold and silver. The Arab kingdoms of Quiola (printed upside down) and Melinde appear in eastern Africa and Hamarich, the capital of the mythical Christian king Pester John, is shown at the confluence of the twin sources of the Nile. The map is illustrated with crowns and scepters, forests, parrots, an elephant, a Cyclops (Monoculi) and a large galleon under full sail.

References: Norwich #2.

Condition: A

Bright modern color in the bold style of the period. Light mat burn in margin, well away from map. Small remnants of masking tape on verso from a previous framing.

Estimate: $800 - $900

Sold for: $1,500

Closed on 9/28/2005

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