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17th Century Hand-Colored Map of West Africa by Mercator/Hondius
About the Item
A 17th century hand-colored map entitled "Guineae Nova Descriptio" by Gerard Mercator and Jodocus Hondius, published in their 'Atlas Minor' in Amsterdam in 1635. It is focused on the modern day African countries of Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo and Benin. A sea monster is seen in the Ethiopicus Ocean (the Gulf of Guinea). A large inset map in the left corner depicts the Island of Isle of Thomae (modern day São Tomé and Príncipe) in detail, which includes the Citadel marked in red. A decorative strapwork cartouche in the lower portion of the map includes the map title.
The map is presented in an archival heather green colored mat. The mat measures 14" wide x 12" high and the map measures 11.25" wide x 7" high. There is English text on the verso. There is mild chipping about the edges, but the map is otherwise in very good condition.
Gerard Mercator (1512-1594) is one of the most famous cartographers of all time. He was born in Flanders and moved to Duisburg from Leuven in the Netherlands, where he lived and worked for the rest of his life. In addition to producing important maps and globes, he invented a projection on maps that presented all parallels and meridians at right angles to each other, with the distance between the parallels extending towards the poles, allowing accurate latitude and longitude calculation and navigational routes to be drawn using straight lines. This was an important technological advance for navigation at sea, as this allowed seafarers to plot their course without having to adjust their course based on frequent compass readings. This has become know as Mercator projection on maps produced by subsequent cartographers to this day. He is also the first to use the term “atlas”, which was first used to describe his collection of maps gathered in one volume. The Mercator atlas was published in 1595, a year after Mercator’s death by his heirs.
Jodocus Hondius (1563-1612) was a prominent globe maker and map engraver from Ghent (Flanders). After spending some time in London, he established his business in Amsterdam in 1593. Hondius bought the plates of Gerard Mercator in 1604 and added around 40 of his own maps in an atlas that he first published in 1606, preserving Mercator's name. After his death in 1612 in Amsterdam, the business was continued by his sons Jodocus II and Henricus, who published the English edition of the Mercator and Hondius Atlas Minor in 1635 that contained this map.
- Dimensions:Height: 12 in (30.48 cm)Width: 14 in (35.56 cm)Depth: 0.13 in (3.31 mm)
- Materials and Techniques:Paper,Engraved
- Place of Origin:
- Period:Mid-17th Century
- Date of Manufacture:1635
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use.
- Seller Location:Alamo, CA
- Reference Number:
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