Insulae Indiae Orientalis praecipuae, In quibus Moluccae celeberrimae sunt

Description

old hand-colour copper engraving, verso: Latin text “Moluccae Insulae” and “Insulae Indiae Orientalis”.

EXTREMELY RARE map from ‘Atlas Maior’, pp. 374 / 375, ornamental strap-work title-cartouche with explanatory notes, a second ornamental cartouche with the map scale, two ships, two compass-roses, rhumb-lines and a sea monster. Latin edition. Early 1600s, upon his return to Holland, Hondius bought Mercator’s plates, adding 36 of his own to reissue the ‘Atlas’. This particular map is one of the most colourful ever printed of the East Indies. A Spanish and a Dutch war ship battle on the top right corner, based on the battle between Admiral van Noort and Antonio Morga December 1600 off Manila Bay, near Fortune Island. Hondius notes on the map the important event of Francis Drake, making landfall in Southern Java c.1577/80, being the first European to do so: ‘Huc Franciscus Dra. Appulit’.