"Tartaria sive Magni Chami Imperium", Jansson, Jan

This great map of Tartaria covers all of eastern Asia between the Caspian Sea and northern China and Manchuria. Being one of the most remote regions of Asia, it was among the last to be properly explored and mapped. This map combines the knowledge obtained by the English and Dutch explorers as far as the Ob River with the balance of the map based on the reports of Marco Polo and the Greek classics. The deserts are filled with a wild assortment of devils and dragons, being held at bay from China by the Great Wall. Explorers flank the distance scale and the title is symbolically engraved onto the saddle blanket of a camel, representing the trade over the Silk Road. This map is nearly identical to Blaeu's map of the same title, but does not have a scale across the top. Latin text on verso.

References: Van der Krogt (Vol. I) #8050:1B.

Condition: A

A crisp impression with attractive color, minor show-through of text on verso, and a tiny hole caused by a small rust spot at right that has been professionally repaired. There is some creasing of the paper in the left blank margin, a few tiny tears along the edges of the sheet, and remnants of non-archival tape on verso along edges of sheet.