Catalog Archive
Auction 154, Lot 716

"Guineae Nova Descriptio", Mercator/Hondius

Subject: Western Africa

Period: 1623 (published)

Publication: Gerardi Mercatoris - Atlas sive Cosmographicae

Color: Hand Color

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

This beautifully engraved map of western Africa from Senegal, Rio Senega, to Cape Lopez on the Gulf of Guinea just below the equator. The map reflects the Portuguese exploration and settlement in the region and includes a large inset of the Island of St. Thomas. This is one of six new maps of Africa to be included in Hondius' editions of Mercator's Atlas. It is beautifully embellished in Hondius' style with strapwork title cartouches, a Portuguese ship and native sailing boat, and fully engraved seas in a moiré style. Latin text on verso.

References: Norwich #316; Van der Krogt (Vol. I) #8700:1A.

Condition: A

A clean and bright example with attractive color and a minor centerfold separation in the bottom blank margin that has been professionally repaired. There are stains along the edges of the sheet at right and left, far from image.

Estimate: $350 - $425

Sold for: $220

Closed on 9/16/2015

Archived