"Nova Hispania, et Nova Galicia", Blaeu, Willem

This is a fabulous, decorative map of the western coastal regions of Mexico, based on Hondius' map of 1606, which itself derives from Ortelius' 1579 map. Mexico City is situated on a large lake below the elaborate title cartouche with the Royal Spanish arms, figureheads, parrots and other adornments. Several gold and silver mines are located in the central region with a diamond-shaped icon, and a central mountain range has a Latin note indicating that there are large amounts of silver to be found there. Two sailing ships and a compass rose adorn the Pacific, and putti and armadillos frolic on the scale of miles cartouche. The map bears Willem Blaeu's imprint in the distance scale cartouche. This example has a blank verso and is not listed in Van der Krogt.

References: Van der Krogt (Vol. II) #9510:2.

Condition: B

There is light toning, scattered foxing, and a few small edge tears confined to the lower blank margin that have been closed on verso with archival tape. There is minor soiling in the top corners of the sheet, which have been reinforced with non-archival paper on verso with some show-through.