"Chorographia Originis Nili... [on sheet with] Chorographia Originis Nilise Ufontium Ipsius... [and] Vera et Genvina Fontium Nili Topographia...", Kircher, Athanasius

These three interesting maps illustrate theories concerning the origins of the Nile according to Duarte Lopez, Arab geography, and the Jesuit explorer Peter Paez. The first (6.9" x 7.5") represents the origin of the Nile as explored by Lopez and described by Pigafetta, with the river emanating from two lakes, one below the other. The second (6.5" x 7.4") represents the Mountains of the Moon origin, north of Lake Zambia. The third (14.1" x 9.3") depicts in detail the Montes Lunae and the river valley as recorded by the Jesuit traveler Paez. The maps are embellished with mountains, citadels, forests, exotic animals, a crocodile, and sea monsters. Originally appeared in Oedipus Aegyptiacus Rome in 1652 and was subsequently published in Mundus Subterraneus in 1665, 1668, and 1678.

References: Norwich #156; Tooley (Africa-48) p. 53.

Condition: B

Issued folding on watermarked paper and now flattened with minor soiling. There are professional repairs to several chips in the right blank margin, and to a chip that enters the bottom right corner of the image (extending 5" wide and nearly 1" high) with the image seamlessly replaced in facsimile. If not for the facsimile work, this map would be in "A" condition, and certainly presents itself as an "A."