154. Waldseemüller, Martin: Tabula Terre Nove

Strasbourg, 1513.
The earliest obtainable printed woodcut map depicting the New World. Martin Waldseemüller’s work, known as the „Admiral’s Map”, is the most prominent item of the Ptolemaic atlas published by Johann Schott in 1513 and one of the most groundbreaking milestones in the cartography of America. The cartographer identified a person he called „Admiral” as the source of his work. For a long time, it was assumed that Columbus was behind the name (who was popularly known as the „Admiral of the Ocean”). However, it probably refers to a Portuguese cartographer as it can be traced back to a reference in one of Caveri’s manuscript maps of 1505. The map field under the title depicts the western coasts of Europe and Africa as well as the contiguous eastern coastline of North and South America (from the St. Lawrence River to the mouth of La Plata), showing Cuba (Isabella), Hispaniola (Spagnolla), Puerto Rico (Boriquem ), Jamaica (Iamaiqua) and several smaller and larger islands and archipelagos of the Caribbean Sea. The presentation of Florida confirms the assumption that Waldseemüller had access to early travel diaries. The work is a cartographic landmark, and its importance is also marked by the fact that it was used almost unchanged for more than twenty years. In the case of the atlas edition, the cartographer indicated the vast, unknown area of the mainland as „Terra Incognita” and added some notes to pay tribute to Christopher Columbus, the explorer of the region.
Dimensions: 390 x 445 (420 x 555) mm.
Strong, clear print with slight discolouration along the fold line. With existing export licence.
Burden: 3.
 
Starting price: 9,500,000 HUF