Catalog Archive
Auction 120, Lot 98

"America Borealis", Scherer, Heinrich

Subject: North America

Period: 1699 (dated)

Publication: Atlas Novus

Color: Black & White

Size:
13.8 x 9 inches
35.1 x 22.9 cm
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Henrich Scherer, a mathematics professor and Jesuit, produced this work to emphasize the extend of Catholic influence in the New World. The richly engraved map shows the Island of California after the Sanson model with a large mountain range. The Great Lakes are prominently depicted and the Mississippi River originates in two large lakes in present-day Canada, and empties into the Sinus Mexicanus too far to the west. The map is decorated with a title cartouche, distance scale, ships and sea monsters. The title cartouche is decorated with metal ware signifying the Spanish Empire's wealth derived from the metals mined in the Americas.

References: Burden (II) #756; McLaughlin #128; Tooley (America) p. 131.

Condition: A+

Estimate: $1,200 - $1,400

Sold for: $950

Closed on 7/18/2007

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