Lot 36: JODE, CORNELIS DE.

JODE, CORNELIS DE. AMERICAE PARS BOREALIS, FLORIDA, BACCALAOS, CANADA, CORTEREALIS. [ANTWERP: ARNOLD CONINX FOR CORNELIS DE JODE, 1593] , 363 X 506MM., DOUBLE-PAGE ENGRAVED MAP, CONTEMPORARY HAND COLOUR, SOME LIGHT DISCOLORATION AND SOME OFFSETTING

Burden, Mapping of North America I 81 & II, Addenda, p.xiii: this the second state substituting Ribault's name in the fifth line of text above the Arctic Circle; Cumming, Southeast in Early Maps 16

An important map of North America, the next improvement on the Forlani model of 1565 (see lot 8), and the first Dutch map of the region, as English and French information for Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas and maritime Canada begins to appear on general maps.

The problem that de Jode faced was how to combine geographical detail from two different schools - the French for maritime Canada and the English for the Carolinas - which did not dovetail as neatly as he might have liked. Instead, when blended together, the result was the great contraction, and mis-placement, of the region between Maine and Virginia, with the coastline depicted in an east-west orientation, with no real sense of Cape Cod, Long Island, New York or New Jersey and the Delaware Bay.

This map was prepared for the second edition of the de Jode Speculum orbis terrarum undertaken by Gerard de Jode and completed by his son and heir, Cornelis, as the Speculum orbis terrae, 1593. Although a superior map to Ortelius' version the atlas sold poorly and is the reason for the comparative rarity of de Jode's maps today.