Copper-engraved map, hand-colored in outline, with 2 hand-colored cartouches. 46.8x55.5 cm. (18½x21¾"). First state.

Captivating map of North America, with California an island, the continent inhabited by numerous vignettes of animals, sailing ships and a few monsters in the oceans. Burden calls it a "beautifully engraved map" that had "greater influence than any other to date in perpetuating the theory of California as an island. This was because it was disseminated through the medium of [Hondius'] powerful Dutch publishing house. None of the earlier California as an island maps had reached such a wide audience... Cartographically the map is a careful composition of many different sources and illustrates well the current state of knowledge. The depiction and nomenclature of the west, along with that of the insular California, derive directly from Henry Briggs' The North Part of America, 1635. A legend placed strategically over the north-west coastline offers the opportunity to discontinue a coastline least understood. An unnamed lake still feeds a Rio del Norto flowing incorrectly south-west into what should be the headwaters of the Gulf of California. On the east bank of this river is Real de Nueua Mexico, or Santa Fe…” This is the first state of the map, issued in 1636, with no imprint in the cartouche at lower left, Latin text on verso, and signature mark Oooo on the verso. Burden 245; Koeman Vol. II, p.397, no. 486; Leighly 13; McLaughlin 6; Tooley p.113; Wheat Transmississippi 45 (1640 issue).