Antique map – World double hemisphere by Duval c.1669 Ref: 889-001

Planisphere, ou Carte Generale du Monde by Pierre Duval c.1676

This rare double-hemisphere map published in Paris and dated 1676 has several interesting geographic features. Please note a distorted and incomplete coastline of Australia. Also, the presence of Terra Australis Incognita, the great southern continent. Cook proved 100 years later that it does not exist. Also, California as an island, an error in mapping that lasted a short while in the seventeenth century – earlier and later maps correctly show Baja as a Peninsula. The Great Lakes are shown open-ended to the West. Surrounding the hemispheres are diagrams showing the planetary orbits and the ancient and modern names of the winds, as well as a terrestrial globe and an armillary sphere.

Hand coloured copperplate engraving. Plate size is approximately 60cm X 34cm. The outside dimensions of the frame are approximately 80cm X 55cm . Duval was geographer to the King of France and a nephew of Nicolas Sanson.