America sive Novus Orbis Respectu Europaeorum Inferior Globi Terrestris Pars 1596

De Bry's Beautifully Engraved Map of the New World.

A very fine full color example of De Bry's scarce map of North and South America. With full-length portraits of the important explorers Colombus, Vespucci, Magellan and Pizaro. From part six of Theodor de Bry's Grand Voyages, printed 1596 in Frankfurt.

Philip D. Burden in The Mapping of North America about this map (#91):

This beautifully engraved map follows the style de Bry was becoming known for; he was one of the major influences encouraging the full decoration of maps... The map is largely derived from the Petrus Plancius world map of 1594. He clarifies the coastline of I:Dagoa in the Solomon Islands and interestingly calls the southern continent MAGALLANICA. The information acquired by Cornelis Claesz in 1594 from the Lasso chart is incorporated here in depicting a single insular Newfoundland. It incorporates accurately for the first time the White-le Moyne cartography upon a map of America, VIRGINIA being placed more correctly further south.

This rare hemisphere map of the Americas is decorated with portraits of Christopher Colombus, Amerigo Vespucci, Ferdinand Magellan and Francesco Pizaro. The hemisphere is supported by a framework with an anchor, compass and nautical charts. In the background a maritime scene with mountains and sailing ships. In the map itself more sailing ships and a sea monster.

Theodor de Bry was a Flemish engraver and publisher, born in 1528 in Liege. 1578 he moved with his family to Frankfurt am Main, where he founded an engraving and publishing company.

In the years 1586 and 1588 he lived in London, where he worked with the geographer Richard Hakluyt. He collected travel reports and illustrations of European research expeditions. After his return in 1589, T. de Bry and his sons Johann Theodor and Johann Israel began to publish the two most important collections of Renaissance travelogue. Between 1590 and 1634, they published under the title America and the New World and India orientalis a comprehensive work out of 27 volumes, which are the most important travel books of the 16th Century. Equipped with large copper plate illustrations and explanatory text, a work arose that documents until today, how the countries of the Americas, Africa and Asia and its inhabitants looked like at the time of discovery and how the Europeans saw them.

Theodor de Bry was able to publish only six parts of his complete work. After his death in 1598, the work was continued by his sons and later by Johann Theodor's son-in-law Matthew Merian until 1634.

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