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152. könyvárverés

Scarce woodcut map of America and the Atlantic Ocean from the first Spanish edition of Pedro de Medina’s „Arte de Navegar” (1545, Valladolid). The work was the first treatise on sailing published in Spain and is considered as a milestone of the navigation literature. The author used not only several sources – including Hernando de Soto’s discoveries –, but his own observations as well, while serving under Hernán Cortés on his American voyage. De Medina added several nautical information to his map such as the 16 rhumb lines (to help to determine the exact direction), and this was the first printed map with the note of the Papal Line of Demarcation after the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494. On the work, galleons illustrate the trade routes between Spain and America as the position of the ships indicates southwestern outbound voyage and their return via the Gulf Stream. This early depiction of the stream is astonishing and important because most of the European coloniser countries discovered its importance only 200 years later. The map is also the earliest appearance of the mouth of the Mississippi (called Rio Spiritu Santo, „R. spu. S.”) and Gulf of Saint Lawrence. The Central American coastline is extremely accurate, and the Yucatan is – correctly – portrayed as a peninsula. The nomenclature is also remarkable since – as one of the earliest mentions – Florida, Mexico, the Amazon River and Peru appear with their names even used today. The engraver added a banner title to the left side of the map field – to the uncharted territory of America –, a compass rose to the centre and a bar scale to the lower right corner. Spanish text on the back. Our copy is extremely rare as it was only two times on auction in the past 40 years. Dimensions: 145 x 245 (195 x 300) mm. With some small light stains at the left side.