Nouveau Continent ou Amerique

A page from the textbook of late 17th century cartography.

This small map of the Western Hemisphere was issued by Alain Manesson Mallet in the first edition of his Description de l’Univers in 1683. It is a wonderful example of cartography from the late 17th century, showing many of the common contemporary geographic misconceptions.

These include an oblong South America, the Sea of Verrazano in North America, incomplete coastlines in the Pacific, the unknown southern continent of Terra Australis, and of course, California as an island.

First edition, first state, with page 269 in the upper right corner and French text on the verso.