Tipus Orbis Terrarum

Excellent example of the rare map of the world by Hernando De Solis, published in Valladolid. This is one of the earliest copperplate maps published in the Iberian Peninsula.

Rodney Shirley dates the plate to 1603, the year in which Hernando de Solis' planisphere was included in Relaciones universales del mondo, a Spanish translation of Giovanni Botero's geographical text, "Le Relazioni Universali". However, it seems certain that the plate was prepared as early as 1598, the date it appears on the map of the American continent, part of the set along with those of the other continents, which helps to date De Solis' entire series of etchings.

Confirmation of the date comes to us from one of Spain's greatest art historians, Juan Agustín Ceán Bermúdez (1749-1829): “Solis (Hernando de) grabador de láminas. Residia en Valladolid á fines del siglo XVI con gran crédito, particularmente en grabar cartas geográficas. Grabó el año de 1598 el mapa del orbe terráqueo con adornos de buen gusto y los otros quatro de las partes del mundo. Son muy apreciables las medallas que están en el de América con los bustos de Americo Vespucio y de Cristóbal Colon" (cf. Juan Agustín Ceán Bermúdez, Diccionario historico de los mas ilustres profesores de las bellas artes en España, vol. 3, 1800, pp. 383-384).

Cartographically, De Solis bases his map on Abraham Ortelius' 1570 planisphere, with place names translated into Spanish. It includes the characteristic bulging outline of South America, while only the Strait of Magellan separates South America from the large and unknown southern continent. This is a common feature in maps of the time, as a southern continent was thought to be hidden in the Pacific and near the South Pole to balance the continents of the Northern Hemisphere. The points of such a continent were derived from sailors' tales and observations; for example, the note south of the Cape of Good Hope, where parrots seen by Portuguese sailors are mentioned. This region, often called Psitacorum regio, appears on Gerard Mercator's planisphere of 1541 and in that of 1569.

Further east, on the southern continent, there are several place names - Beach, Lucach and Maletur -derived from Marco Polo's Travels; the three places were regions of the island of Java. As can be seen, a menor of Java is near Maletur. This confusion between Java and the southern continent stems from an error by Marco Polo, who initially used in the Arabic manner the toponym Java Major for Java and that of Java Minor for Sumatra. After a printing error in the 1532 edition of the Travels (Paris and Basel) made Java Minor appear as the largest island in the world, cartographers began to create a land mass to represent Java Minor, Beach, Lucach and Maletur.

An intriguing toponym is found in the far northwest of North America. Anian Reino that derives from Ania, a Chinese province located on a large gulf mentioned in Marco Polo's travels (chapter 5, book 3). The gulf described by Polo was actually the Gulf of Tonkin, but the description of the province was transposed from Vietnam to the northwest coast of North America. The first map to do so was Giacomo Gastaldi's 1562 world map, followed by Paolo Forlani's Il Disegno del discoperto della nova Franza in 1566. The Strait then became an abbreviation for a passage to China, or a Northwest Passage, and appeared on maps until the mid-18th century.

While the geography of the map is taken from Ortelius's first world plate, the ribbon decorative elements are reminiscent of Ortelius's final planisphere of 1589. A distinguishing feature of this map, however, are the four continental maps inserted in medallions in the corners.

Etching, printed on contemporary laid paper, with margins, traces of paper creases and small perfectly executed restoration in the lower left white margin, otherwise in excellent condition.

Beautiful example of this rare map of the world.

Bibliografia

Juan Agustín Ceán Bermúdez, Diccionario historico de los mas ilustres profesores de las bellas artes en España, vol. 3, 1800, pp. 383-384; R. Shirley, The Mapping of the World, n. 242.