"Planiglobii Terrestris Mappa Universalis Utrumq Hemisphaerium Orient et Occidentale Repraesentans... / Mappe-Monde qui Represente les Deux Hemispheres Savoir Celui de l'Orient et Celui de l'Occident...", Haas/Homann Heirs

Subject: World
Period: 1746 (dated)
Color: Hand Color
Size: 17.6 x 20.7

This handsome double-hemisphere world map was drawn by Georg Moritz Lowitz, based on the work of Johann Mathias Haas. It includes four polar spheres, each in a different projection, and two interesting diagrams depicting the earth, as it would be seen from space. North America has a speculative border above California with the recent discoveries of Bering and Tschirikow noted in 1741. The large, mythical Xarayes Lake appears in the center of South America. In the South Pacific there are partial coastlines of New Zealand, Australia, and Tasmania. Two very large, decorative cartouches contain the titles, one in Latin, the other French. The Latin cartouche features mythical sea creatures and wind heads while the other is surrounded by fruit and animals representing the bounty of the earth along with four headdresses representing the four continents.
Condition: B
Contemporary color on watermarked paper with some staining at center. There are faint dampstains in the lower corners of the sheet, minor soiling mostly in the margins, and short centerfold separations in the top and bottom blank margins that have been archivally repaired on verso.