Table d'Afrique
THE FIRST MAP OF AFRICA BY A FRENCH CARTOGRAPHER
Paris: Pierre L'Huilier/ Guillaume Chaudiere (?) 1575.
Hand-colored woodcut map (14 1/4"x 19 1/2") of Africa from Thevet's Cosmographie Universelle, emulating Sebastian Münster's famous description of the world from 1544.
Fine save the repaired tear in the upper left quadrant and severely trimmed margins.
A double-page map of Africa with numerous ships and sea monsters, two cartouches including a compass, hourglass, and sea-chart, as well as strapwork decoration around the four cardinal directions. The shape of the continent displays an unusual bulge north of the Tropic of Capricorn and the mapping of the Nile follows the Ptolemaic tradition of locating its source in two parallel lakes fed by water from the legendary Mountains of the Moon. Born in Angoulême, André Thevet travelled in Europe and America, was appointed Cosmographe du Roi in 1560 and became an almoner to Catherine de' Medici.
Item #6BD0025
Price: $7,500