de WIT, Frederick Novissima et accuratissima septentrionalis... Lot 546

de WIT, Frederick Novissima et accuratissima septentrionalis ac meridionalis Americae descriptio [...]. Amsterdam F. de Wit ca. 1690 Engr., 49 x 59 cm, old hand-coloured (sm. repair on central folding, sm. tear in left margin). Framed (not studied outside frame). De Wit’s map of the Americas including all five Great Lakes and showing California as an island. Later state with "Terra esonis" to the west of California and "Nova Albion" inside California, with the ships of the earlier states being removed, while the imprint "F. de Wit excudit" is still present. The 4 missing sections on the meridian 338°E, 10°N of the equator, are a reminder of a detail that has been erased. The crack on the same meridian in the southern hemisphere, that is usually mentioned in literature, appears to be repaired. Ref. Koeman III, Wit 2 [2].