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Copper-engraved map, hand-colored. 37.5x50 cm. (14¾x19¾").

Striking map of North and South America that first appeared in the 1606 edition of the Mercator atlas, the first produced by Hondius following his acquisition of the plates from Mercator's atlas. This map was engraved by Hondius himself, one of a set of four new maps of the continents he produced for the atlas. Produced on a stereographic projection, it was, as Burden notes, "an amalgam of various sources. It incorporates a more correct west coast of South America and narrows still further the longitudinal width of New Spain at the Tropic of Cancer, making it just 10°, much closer to reality. However, like all cartography before, it still retains and enlarged North American continent... Various scenes taken from the earlier volumes of de Bry's Grand Voyages adorn the whole. Particularly notable is the native Brazilian scene illustrating the method used to make a local beverage, derived from Hans Staden's voyage as recorded by de Bry. There are various galleons, kayaks and Indian canoes along with a pair of birds perched on the inset..." The present example is from the 1619 French language edition of Gerardi Mercatoris Atlas Sive Cosmographicae, with page number 367 and signature mark Bbbbbbbbxc on verso; there is also a woodcut decoration on the verso, but no text save the heading Amerique. Burden 150; Wagner 245.