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Tartaria sive Magni Chami Imperium
Absolutely beautiful and fascinating miniature map of North Eastern Asia and North America published c.1598 by Abraham Ortelius (1527-1598).
This map was engraved by Philippe Galle (1537-1612) and published within the miniature atlas “Epitome du theatre du monde”. This is not the later edition published by Giovanni Battista Vrients circa 1602, but an earlier rarer edition.
While designed to illustrate the expansive kingdom of the Great Khan in Asia, this tiny map's main feature is the unnamed strait separating
Asia and North America based on the theory of Giacomo Gastaldi (1500-1566).
Near the southern entrance to this straight is a large and strangely shaped Japan.
Of particular interest is the very early naming of California and the naming of Axa, one of the supposed Seven Cities of Gold.
The legend of the Seven Cities emerged in Europe long before Columbus, during the Moorish invasion of Spain.
It was said that when the Moors invaded Porto in the early 8th century, the city’s seven bishops took all of their wealth and fled to sea.
They landed on an island in the Atlantic called 'Antilla.'
There, each of the seven bishops established a city.
The island of Antilla actually appears on many early portolan charts of the Atlantic, but as navigators explored more and more of that ocean and failed to discover the Antilla, the Seven Cities were relocated to the unexplored American southwest.
This map was engraved by Philippe Galle (1537-1612) and published within the miniature atlas “Epitome du theatre du monde”.
First published in Latin in 1570 in Antwerp (with two editions appearing that same year, with the title Theatrus orbis terrarum, then in Dutch in 1577, the text was translated into French from 1579 onwards. This first edition in French, which appeared under the title of Miroir du monde, had only 72 maps. It was re-published in 1583 with 83 maps. It was not until 1588 that the complete, definitive version, with its 94 maps appeared, entitled “Epitome du theatre du monde”.
Condition Report
In a very good condition. Printed on hand-laid paper with a bold, clear, dark impression. Two micro pin holes one on the margin one in the letter R in PARS. Paper toned commensurate with age. Hand colored. French text on verso. Sheet measures 14.2cm x 10.6cm $200
Want Further Information?
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or queries regarding this map. john@numismaticmall.com
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