Catalog Archive
Auction 142, Lot 597

"Paradisi Terrestris vera et Sacris Literis Conformis Exhibitio Geographica", Scherer, Heinrich

Subject: Middle East

Period: 1710 (circa)

Publication: Atlas Novus

Color: Hand Color

Size:
13.7 x 8.8 inches
34.8 x 22.4 cm
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This is a very decorative and interesting map of the Middle East covering the biblical regions from the Black and Caspian Seas through most of the Arabian Peninsula. The map concentrates primarily on the geographical features with only a few important place names. Paradisus is located on the Euphrates River. A variety of wild animals (including a unicorn) and sea monsters fill the map. At sides are scenes of Eve offering the apple to Adam and the expulsion from the garden. Heinrich Scherer was a devout Jesuit and many of the maps and plates in his atlas emphasize the Catholic hierarchy and the spread of Jesuit missions throughout the world.

References:

Condition: A

Issued folding with some faint printer's ink residue along the platemark at top left and bottom right, and a couple of tiny holes in the blank margins.

Estimate: $550 - $700

Sold for: $600

Closed on 11/28/2012

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