Lot 206: MERCATOR, Michael (c.1567-1600). America sive India Nova. Amsterdam: 1595 [but 1606 or

MERCATOR, Michael (c.1567-1600). America sive India Nova. Amsterdam: 1595 [but 1606 or later].

Hand-coloured engraved circular map of the western hemisphere (360 x 456mm). The map surrounded by 3 inset circular maps of Cuba, Haiti and the Gulf of Mexico in each corner, the title set in the fourth, all within spandrel decoration. Window mount.

Michael Mercator was the grandson of Gerard Mercator (1512-1594), one of the most famous and influential cartographers. This map was first printed in Gerard Mercator's 1595 edition of the Atlantis para altera. America sive India Nova is an interesting map but displays the confusion that continued to surround the west coast of the New World and the Pacific Ocean. It shows many erroneous beliefs, for example, the Strait of Magellan passes between South America and an enlarged Antarctica extends up towards the Pacific equator. "Nova Guinea" looks like Australia, which itself has been dragged to the equator. Burden The Mapping of North America 87.

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