Totius Americae Septentrionalis et Meridionalis

55.5 x 48 cm copperplate engraving, 58 x 48 cm sheet size, original and later hand colour, Nürnberg, circa 1720

We are pleased to offer this original map of The Americas by Johann Baptist Homann (1663-1724) founder of the leading German map publishing firm of the 18th century.  Homann was a master engraver but not a true cartographer despite his eventual appointment as Imperial Geographer - the cartography of his maps was unoriginal and based almost entirely on the work of other geographers although his maps often outshine his predecessors in engraving work and decorative elements.  This map is typical in that it is essentially a close copy of the classic Dutch map of the Americas published by Frederik De Wit (1630-1706) in 1680 which in turn had its origins in the circa 1658 map Totius Americae Descriptio by the Dutch publisher Nicolaas Visscher (1618-1679).  Homann appears to have incorporated some revisions to North America from subsequent Dutch versions of the De Wit map and from a map by the French geographer Guillame De L'Isle (1675-1726) but otherwise the cartography is the same as the De Wit map.  While the map was originally published around 1710 with an insular California, this appears to be the second state of the map which corrected that misconception but prior to a third state in the 1720s which saw the addition of a publishing privilege to the title cartouche.  Homann here presents his bold and distinctive style of engraving with two flamboyant vignette cartouches making for what is rightly considered one of more sought-after maps of the New World.  As we shall see this exceptionally decorative map provides a fascinating snapshot of European knowledge (and the astonishing lack thereof) of the Americas in the early 18th century, and although restoration work is present in its lower third (see condition description below) in overall appearance it will make an elegant presentation if matted and framed.

The title cartouche shows two natives, presumably a North American at left and South American at right, viewing a vignette of trade between Europeans and natives while rather oddly depicted animals wander nearby.  The background shows a European settlement with church and windmills.  Notation at right reads "Terra detecta 1687 per Davis Anglum" - this would later be identified as Easter Island:

Turning to the map itself, we find a large freshwater lake in the American southeast, perpetuating an error by the Dutch cartographer Jodocus Hondius in 1606 that has its origins in the 16th century.  In combining the 1591 map by Le Moyne de Morgues (published by Theodore de Bry in Frankfurt) and White's 1590 map of Virginia, Hondius inadvertently compressed the Carolina coast to a significant extent and for some reason elected to show Le Moyne's River May terminating in a large fresh water lake.  The lake appeared on nearly all subsequent maps of the region well into the 18th century, bolstered by the bizarre account of one John Lederer of Virginia who published an account of his supposed visit to the lake which he called "Ushery":

"The water of Ushery-lake seemed to my taste a little brackish, which I rather impute to some Mineral-waters which flow into it, then to any saltness it can take from the Sea, which we may reasonably suppose is a great way from it.... I judged it to be about ten leagues broad: for were not the other shore very high, it could not be discerned from Ushery. How far this Lake tends Westerly, or where it ends, I could neither learn or guess."

Curiously, Homann does not bother to translate De Wit's Dutch placenames (e.g. Groote Banck for the Grand Banks) into German although he does incorporate revisions to the Great Lakes from De L'Isle and other French sources (again, in French, not German).  However this introduced some cartographic confusion - note the distortion of Lake Superior and introduction of two large and entirely spurious islands.  The Wabash (Ouabache) and Ohio Rivers are presented as two names for the same river, and a significant landmass is shown between Lake Erie and the unnamed Lake Ontario:

As we noted earlier, the first state of the map showed California as an island and this revision to the plate shows the Baja peninsula with the coast continuing to the northwest although wholly uncharted.  The remnants of the inland sea from the earlier state are visible near the mysterious country of the "Moozemleck".  To get a sense of map detail consider that the distance from Santa Fe to the tip of the Baja Peninusla as seen below measures just 4 cm actual size:

A secondary cartouche presents a history of the discovery of the New World and discusses the missionary work of the Catholic Church. Homann presents a vignette with a heavenly triangle of light overlooking two scenes - one in which natives are patiently listening to a priest and thus receiving presumed enlightenment into the Catholic faith and another where natives worship a fearsome demon.  Meanwhile the entire North American coast from southern California northwards is shown as unknown:

Homann's demon appears to incorporate several genres of monster, e.g. harpy, centaur, manticore, potted plant...

Note tentative opening at Lancaster Sound holding out hope of a Northwest Passage:

Note pictorial topography, tiny forests:

The bottom third of the map exhibits extensive restoration of repaired tears as seen here - bidders are cautioned to carefully review the condition description below regarding these repairs:

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