Gilt Highlights

"Tabula Magellanica, qua Tierrae del Fuego, cum Celeberrimis Fretis a F. Magellano et I. Le Maire Detectis Novissima et Accuratissima Descriptio Exhibetur", Jansson, Jan

This is one of the most elaborately decorated maps to focus on the tip of South America with the Strait of Magellan and Le Maire Strait. The coastlines are depicted as very mountainous, while the interior is completely without detail. Instead the region is filled with a hunting scene, exotic birds including rheas and penguins, and a quaint scene of village life. The map is further adorned with a pair of compass roses, three sailing ships, and four beautiful cartouches. The key to the map is in a strapwork cartouche held aloft by putti, while another cartouche at right dedicates the map to Gualtherus de Raet. The cartouches arrayed across the bottom of the map present a unique distance scale in checkerboard format and the title with a tribe of Fuegian natives, penguins and shells. The map is enhanced by gilt highlights in the dedication cartouche and compass rose. This is the second state with a dedication to Gualtherus de Raet and a blank verso.

References: Van der Krogt (Vol. I) #9950:1C.2.

Condition: B+

A nice impression in contemporary color with a few minor creases and light foxing. There is a chip in the bottom left corner, well away from map image, and another chip confined to the top margin that has been repaired with archival materials on verso.