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1746 Homann Heirs Map of South & North America

Americae-hmhr-1746
$487.50
Americae Mappa Generalis. - Main View
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1746 Homann Heirs Map of South & North America

Americae-hmhr-1746


Title


Americae Mappa Generalis.
  1746     18.5 x 21.5 in (46.99 x 54.61 cm)

Description


A stunning 1746 Homann Heirs hand colored map of both North and South America. This is the second issue of this important map following the earlier edition by J. B. Homann. Map reflects a considerable advancement in American cartography of the time as well as a general increase in knowledge regarding America's interior from explorations and colonizations. Map immediately precedes the French and Indian War, so the French are shown to dominate North American while the Spanish are preeminent in the south. The Pacific Northwest is largely unexplored, but nonetheless, the mythical Northwest Passage is shown. As is the mythical Quivira, 'Land of Gold and Silver,' sought after by conquistador Francisco de Coronado in 1541. The beautiful decorative title cartouche in the lower left quadrant depicts two erupting volcanoes and several American Indians, one of which is seems to be holding aloft a shrunken head or similar idol. An important early map of the Americas.

Cartographer


Homann Heirs (1730 - 1848) were a map publishing house based in Nurenburg, Germany, in the middle to late 18th century. After the great mapmaker Johann Baptist Homann's (1664 - 1724) death in 1724, management of the firm passed to his son Johann Christoph Homann (1703 - 1730). J. C. Homann, perhaps realizing that he would not long survive his father, stipulated in his will that the company would be inherited by his two head managers, Johann Georg Ebersberger (1695 - 1760) and Johann Michael Franz (1700 - 1761), and that it would publish only under the name 'Homann Heirs'. This designation, in various forms (Homannsche Heirs, Heritiers de Homann, Lat Homannianos Herod, Homannschen Erben, etc..) appears on maps from about 1731 onwards. The firm continued to publish maps in ever diminishing quantities until the death of its last owner, Christoph Franz Fembo (1781 - 1848). More by this mapmaker...

Condition


Good condition. Fill repair bottom center.

References


Phillips, Lee Philip, A List of Geographical Atlases in the Library of Congress, page 44.