One of the earliest maps to depict America

WALDSEEMULLER, Martin.

Tabula Terre Nove.
Strasbourg, Johannes Shott, 1513. Woodcut, printed area 385 x 445mm, paper watermarked with a fleur de lis, with good margins.

A near mint example of this rare first issue of Wäldseemüller's important map, the first printed atlas map specifically of the Americas. It shows the eastern coasts of America and the western coast of Europe & Africa 55º North to 35º South, with a rudimentary 'Florida', Cuba, Hispaniola and Jamaica. The twenty place names in North America suggest his sources were Portuguese, particularly the Cantino chart of 1502 and Caveri of c.1505. As the Gulf of Mexico and the Florida Peninsula appear before recorded voyages to either, this map is regarded as evidence of forgotten expeditions.
It was Wäldseemüller's wall map of the world (1507) that first used the name 'America', although he was only using it for the parts of South America explored by Amerigo Vespucci. However, others started using the name for the whole of the New World and here Wäldseemüller is trying to make amends: a Latin note reads 'This land and the adjacent islands were discovered by Christopher Columbus on the mandate of the King of Castile'.

BURDEN: 3.
Stock ID : 24130