Catalog Archive
Auction 119, Lot 79

"America", Botero, Giovanni

Subject: Western Hemisphere

Period: 1598 (circa)

Publication: Descrittione della Geografia Universale

Color: Black & White

Size:
9.5 x 7 inches
24.1 x 17.8 cm
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Early map of the Americas based on Ortelius and D'Anian. The Sierra Nevadas are named and Quivira appears both as a region and a large city in North America. The towns of Marta, Zalisco and Culuacan are noted near present-day New Mexico. Another large city labeled Totonteac is shown at the top of the M. Vermeio (Gulf of California). A wide St. Lawrence River has its headwaters in a tiny lake in the region named Saguenai, and there are no Great Lakes. The names Norinbega for New England, Virginia, Mocosa and Apalche are on the eastern seaboard. Off the coast, the imaginary islands of Frislant, Dos Demonios, Sept Cites and St. Brendain are shown. South America is shown with a bulging western coast from Ortelius, while an outsized La Plata River plunges into the continent. The map is filled with many towns and topographical details. A massive Tierra del Fuego fills the bottom of the map and is connected to an even more massive Nova Guinea, which carries a notation referring to Andrea Corsali, a 15th century Florentine explorer who described and named the Southern Cross. State two with a line encircling the continents, engraved by Girolamo Porro with Italian text on verso.

References: Burden #86.

Condition: B

Nearly fine with a sharp impression and wide original margins. There are a couple tiny binding holes in the map and a nearly invisible stain on fold, also resulting from binding.

Estimate: $1,100 - $1,500

Sold for: $800

Closed on 5/9/2007

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