A LANDMARK MAP OF CHINA RARE WITH SPANISH TEXT

AUTHOR:

ORTELIUS

TITLE:

Chinae, olim Sinarum regionis, nova descriptio

CONDITION:

Spanish text. 14 3/8 x 18 3/8”.Original color (a bit faded), paper slightly toned, old repair to lower fold not intruding into engraved surface. A large paper copy.

DATE:

(1584-1612)

DESCRIPTION:

This is the finest map of China printed in the sixteenth century. It is based on a manuscript made by Luis Gorge de Barbuda, a Portuguese in the service of Phillip II of Spain. It broke new ground not only for China but for much of East Asia. On this second state, the name “Las Phillippinas” has been added, the first time the name had appeared on a printed map applied to the archipelago rather than one island. Lutz Walter points out that many details for Japan, including the island of Kyushu, are depicted “fairly accurately” for the first time.

The map is quite rare with Spanish text. It first appeared with this pagination (118) and Spanish text in J. B. Vrients’ 1609 edition, of which no copy survives. It was republished with the same pagination in the Plantin Press’s 1612 Spanish edition.

REFERENCES:

Van den Broecke, 164; Suarez, Early Mapping of Southeast Asia, pp. 170-171; Walter, Japan A Cartographic Vision, fig. 11F, p. 186; Van der Krogt, Atlantes Neerlandici, IIIa, 31:452-31:453.

Inventory No. 8225