Catalog Archive
Auction 122, Lot 106

"America Borealis", Scherer, Heinrich

Subject: North America

Period: 1699 (dated)

Publication: Atlas Novus

Color: Hand Color

Size:
13.8 x 9 inches
35.1 x 22.9 cm
Download High Resolution Image
(or just click on image to launch the Zoom viewer)

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 gold and silver mined in the Americas.

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

Condition: A

Narrow (1/16") original margin at upper right, else fine.

Estimate: $1,200 - $1,300

Unsold

Closed on 12/5/2007

Archived