Description:
Flemish engraver Jodicus Hondius turned to publishing in 1604 when he purchased the printing plates of Gerhard Mercator’s Atlas sive Cosmographicae, first published in 1595. Hondius added maps of his own, such as America, and published the Atlas Novus in 1606. Later editions, mostly published by his sons, were issued until 1630. Hondius compiled his map of the Americas from a variety of sources. His depiction of the Pacific coast of South America improves upon earlier maps, but North America’s breadth is greatly exaggerated. The existence of the Great Lakes did not become widely known until the publication of Samuel de Champlain’s map a decade later, and they are absent here. Images of a Japanese fishing vessel in the north Pacific, an Inuit hunting from a kayak in the north Atlantic, natives in a dugout canoe off the Carolina coast, and New World fauna serve as decorative elements and information. Most striking is the vignette showing Brazilian natives preparing a fermented beverage from manioc roots. The image is adapted from one that first appeared in Theodore de Bry’s Grand Voyages (Frankfurt, 1590-91). Image dimensions are 17.5" x 15"
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2007.13.1 |
