"Iaponia", Duval/Beer

This little map is important in the cartographic history of Japan as it presents a new form in the evolution of the European mapping of Japan. Duval altered the Blancus/Moreira type by changing Lake Biwa into a wide gulf, Kyushu appears as a very rugged narrow island, and Honshu takes on an exaggerated mushroom shape. Several other cartographers copied this cartography, particularly for pocket atlases.

Pierre Duval was Nicolas Sanson's nephew and pupil. He published a wide range of atlases and individual maps including a fine miniature world geography with many of the maps based on Sanson. This map is from the German edition of Duval's world geography. The maps were probably engraved by Sigismund G. Hipschman (as his signature appears on the title page and the world map) and have Latin titles rather than the original French. The maps are often attributed to Johann C. Beer, who translated the work into German.

References: King (2nd ed.) pp. 144-45; Walter OAG-56.

Condition: B+

A dark impression with a light damp stain that enters the map image at top. The margins have been extended with old paper at left and right.