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Description found in Archives

Title

America sive India nova ad magnae Gerardi Mercatoris aui universalis imitationem in compendium redacta. Per Michaelem Mercatorem Duysburgensem. [cartographic material].

Online (3)

Arrangement structure

Show Arrangement Structure

Item (linked) part of

America: Western Hemisphere [cartographic material] (R11981-3-1-E)

Date(s)

ca 1607-1612]

Place of creation

Netherlands

Publisher

Hondius

Extent

1 map : ill., hand col ; 1 hemisphere 33 cm in diam on sheet 44 x 53 cm.

Scope and content

This is one of the most famous maps of the Americas and an important foundation map for an American map collection. After the death of his grandfather, Michael Mercator produced this stunning hemispherical map, the only known printed map attributed to him. The geography was patterned after Rumold Mercator's world map of 1587, with a little added detail. There is a large inland lake in Canada, and the St Lawrence River extends nearly halfway across the continent with no Great Lakes. There is a still a bulge in the west coast of South America. The large southern continent extends above the Tropic of Capricorn in the Pacific where there is a very large island of New Guinea. Above North America are two of the four islands of the North Pole, with the great mythical rivers flowing from the pole. The seas are full of mythical islands, including St. Brendain, Frislant and Sept citez.

Conditions of access

Cartographic material

90: Open
Original can be viewed in the presence o
f an early cartographic archivist. Microfiche version is open.

Cartographic material
Microfiche NMC27741

90: Open

Item no. (creator)

Alexander E. MacDonald Canadiana Collection #96

Cartographic material

90: Open

Volume
96

90: Open

Archival reference no.

R11981-556-9-E

Other accession no.

80101/245 CA

Local class no.

H3/1-2000/[1595](1607-1611)

Terms of use

Additional name(s)

Mercator, Gerardus, 1512-1594.
Mercator, Michael, d. 1600.

Additional information

Pictorial relief.

Copperplate engraving.

Map is illustrated with a decorative leaf and foral border. Also contains four roundels, one of which contains the title while the other three depict: Gulf of Mexico, Cuba and Hispaniola.

On verso : 2 pages of text titled "America" with page numbers 39 & 40.

From: Gerardi Mercatoris - Atlas sive Cosmographicae Meditationes de Fabrica Mundi et Fabricati Figura

Physical condition note

Scotch tape on verso along fold line.

Custodial history

Part of the Alexander E. MacDonald Canadiana Collection purchased by the Public Archives of Canada in 1981.

Related materials

For other copies, states and editions see: Mikan 4236127 (NMC 21086) ; G1007 1595 Vault (AMICUS No. 26304775)

Cartographic math data

Scale indeterminate.

Citation / reference note

Burden, Entry 87
Koeman, Entry Me16, map no 6, 39I
Koeman, Entry Me20A, map no 6, 39I
Phillips, Entry 3412, map no 6
LeGear 5918, map no 5.
McCorkle, Entry 595.2

Availability of other formats note

The microfiche version is NMC27741 (Text)

Exhibitions note

National Map Collection 1983 Antique Map Calendar
Canada on Maps 1564-1616: Stratford Festival Exhibition 1966.
Up North: The Discovery and Mapping of the Canadian Arctic, 1511-1944" An Exhibtion held at The Royal Ontario Museum April 1958
Canada on Maps 1564-1616: Stratford Festival Exhibition 1966.

Subject heading

1. North America - Maps - Early works to 1800.
2. South America - Maps - Early works to 1800.
3. Western hemisphere - Maps - Early works to 1800.

Source

Private

Other system control no.

CARTO29540

MIKAN no.

4143449