Wäldseemüller’s famous ”Admiral’s Map”

A very fine example of Waldseemuller's chart of the world, published as a 'modern' map in his edition of Ptolemy's Geography. It is known as the 'Admiral's Map' because of a a reference to Columbus in the text of the book. It only shows the very edges of the Americas: Shirley hypothesises that when work on the atlas started this map was the first to be cut, so the information given in the Americas dates from what was known c.1506. Cuba and Hispaniola the only named islands of the West Indies, with a large landmass in South America, from the discoveries of Pedro Alvares Cabral. Further north the east coast of an incomplete landmass is closer to Europe than the West Indies. In the Old World, Greenland is connected to Scandinavia; Ceylon now appears, and Taprobana has moved east. India is recognisable, but there are two more large peninsulas further east, one each taken from the Cantino and the Martellus manuscript maps. According to Suarez , this is the only map to show both 'sub-continents'.

A very scarce map.