Homann's Early Edition Featuring the Island of California

"Totius Americae Septentrionalis et Meridionalis Novissima Repraesentatio quam ex Singulis Recentium Geographorum Tabulis Collecta Luci Publicae Accomodavit", Homann, Johann Baptist

This lovely early edition of Homann's map of the Americas shows California as an island on the second Sanson model. The Fretum Anian forms an entrance to a potential Northwest Passage between California and the mythical Terra Esonis Incognita, which forms a nearly continuous land bridge from North America to Asia. The Mississippi River and Great Lakes show the results of the early French Jesuit explorations. A large lake in the Southeastern United States is a remnant of Le Moyne's mythical cartography of the previous century. In South America, the Capitanias of Brazil are delineated and the Amazon and other interior features are beginning to take realistic form. The map is embellished with two fine cartouches, each with scenes of natives, Jesuits, and European merchants.

References: McLaughlin #175; Tooley (Amer) p. 129 #79; Portinaro & Knirsch #109.

Condition: A

A sharp, early impression with full contemporary color on a bright sheet with an "IGL" watermark. There are two minor tears along the centerfold in the South Pacific that have been repaired on verso, and faint soiling at bottom right.