Rare Book Monthly
Book Catalogue Reviews - May - 2004 Issue
15th-19th Century Maps And Atlases<br>From Martayan Lan
California was thought to be an island off the coast of New Mexico in 1656
Munster also produced what is described as the first separate map of the entire western hemisphere. It, too, has some unusual features, such as Japan (referred to as “Zipangri”) being a large island off the coast of California, and it includes “Verrazano’s Sea,” a large sea that juts into North America from the Pacific almost all the way to the Atlantic. This resulted from a misconception of Verrazano, who thought that Pamlico Sound beyond the outer banks of Carolina was the Pacific Ocean. This was the first map to refer to the Pacific by its current name, the “mare pacificum.” Item 17. $5,500.
Item 2 is described as “the first large scale map of the continental United States.” The work of John Melish, it was printed in Philadelphia in 1816. This map is pictured on the cover of the catalogue (see the cover image). Other than a few current states that were conjoined at the time (Virginia-West Virginia, Alabama-Mississippi), the area east of the Mississippi looks reasonably up to date, but west of the Mississippi it is still one undifferentiated frontier. $65,000.
In 1656, California was still an island located off the coast of New Mexico. Perhaps after the next big earthquake it once again will be. Nicolas Sanson was a French mapmaker, and while his map lacks seriously for accuracy, it does include a record of many of the Indian tribes of the interior. It also claims a substantial portion of southeastern North America for France although there was little basis for such a claim at the time. Item 42. $7,500.
Item 43 is described as “the earliest acquirable plan of a North American settlement.” It is the 1565 second state of the Ramusio and Gastaldi printing of the planned settlement for New France called “Monte Real.” In time, there would be a “Montreal.” $2,000.
Item 100 offers a 1630 map with the first inclusion of the city known as “New Amsterdam.” That name would not stick, as the Dutch would soon cede control to the British, but its renamed successor, “New York,” is still around. This is said to be the first map to contain the names “Manhattan” and “Massachusetts,” and is the oldest acquirable map to show any of the Great Lakes. It is believed that “Grand Lac” is Lake Superior, and “Lac de Yroquois” is Lake Huron, but Martayan Lan notes that there is a possibility these lakes were Erie and Ontario. $7,500.
Items 73-92 are views of various cities, primarily from Europe, in the 15th through 18th centuries. Paris, Rome, Venice, London, Amsterdam, Krakow, and Constantinople are among them. Items 94-97 are various depictions of the constellations by Cellarius, circa 1660. It would take a strong imagination to see all of the images Cellarius depicted in the sky, but these are some of the most spectacular pictures you will ever find.
Martyan Lan can be located online at www.martayanlan.com or reached by telephone at 212-308-0018.
