World map on Mercator’s Projection believed to be from a Dutch Bible.

Essentially, this map is a reduction of Pierre Mortier’s large map of the world present in the “Neptune Francois”. Its geography is based on the later edition of this map issued after 1703, showing three large islands in Hudson Bay as well as California portrayed as an island with the mythical Straits of Anian to its north, leading east through Canada into Hudson Bay, thus establishing the existence of a Northwest Passage. The truncated east coast of Asia is based on Nicholas Witsen’s masterful map of Siberia issued c. 1690. Australia and New Zealand are based on the latest discoveries based on Tasman.

Five scientific spheres present on the upper part of the map represent day and night, Earth under the Flood, the phases of the Moon and the earth as a double hemisphere.

This edition of the map was issued c.1730 by Johannes Covens and Cornelius Mortier. Cornelius was son to Pierre and continued his father’s legacy with his partner under the imprint Covens and Mortier. Coloured. [Shirley 622] [WLD4805]