"Guinea", Blaeu, Willem

Elegantly engraved map covering the coast from Sierra Leone to Gabon. The land is filed with animals and the sea is decorated with ships and compass roses. The large title cartouche is flanked by two natives and topped by a very human-looking monkey. On the left of the title is a dedication cartouche to D. Nicolao Tulp, a famous Dutch doctor, and to the right two child-like sea creatures are carrying a large elephant tusk. No text on verso indicating this map is from an edition issued after the fire that destroyed the printing house and the subsequent death of Joan Blaeu in 1673. The copperplates were auctioned in 1677 and while the buyer is not recorded, the map does appear in atlases published by Frederic de Wit and Christopher Browne.

References: Norwich #315.

Condition: A

Very crisp and bright with lovely color. Couple of spots in margin and one light spot just above cartouche, centerfold reinforced on verso with Japanese tissue, still overall very good.