1700 Cum Suo Apparatu Volucrum Piscium Et Quadrupedum
By: Heinrich Scherer
Date: 1700 (circa) Munich
Dimensions: 8.75 x 13.75 inches (22.23 x 32.4 cm)
This rare and fascinating map of North America is the work of Heinrich Scherer, a professor of Ethics, Mathematics and Hebrew at the University of Dillingen (no longer extant) in Bavaria in the late 17th century. The map shows a large portion of North America, Central America in its entirety and a portion of northwestern South America. It is unusual as it depicts not only topography, but much flora and fauna, including miniscule pictorial depictions of much of the fauna of the continents as well.
Interesting aquatic creatures of various kinds populate the oceans surrounding the continents, and California is shown as an island, as was common at the time. The theory of an insular California predominated on maps for a very long time, derived from incomplete and inaccurate surveys of the west coast of America and the Baja Gulf undertaken by early Spanish navigators.
Scherer was a highly regarded academician who left his university to become official tutor to the royal princes of Mantua and Bavaria. During his time in Munich as tutor to the princely house of Bavaria, his lifetime work as a cartographer was recognized and he began to receive acclaim for it. His world atlas, the Atlas Novus, was first published in Munich between 1702 and 1710, and reissued again between 1730 and 1737.
The map is embellished with a wonderful cartouche depicting wild animals including a rhinoceros, lion, ox, a panther in a tree, and birds of various species.
Condition: This map is in A condition, a crisp, dark impression.
Inventory #12460
1200 W. 35th Street #425 Chicago, IL 60609 | P: (312) 496 - 3622