"Tartaria sive Magni Chami Imperium", Blaeu, (Family)

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. No text on verso.

References: Van der Krogt (Vol. II) #8050:2.

Condition: B

Toned with light soiling, minor creasing in the blank margins, and archival repairs to a centerfold separation in bottom blank margin and a tear that just enters map border at right.