A pirated map of the Spice Islands

£25,000

Sold

more...

Insulae Moluccae celeberrimæ

sunt ob Maximam aromatum copiam quam per totum terrarum orbem mittunt...

[OUR HALF SHARE] PLANCIUS, Petrus
London,
John Wolfe,
[1598].
Hand-coloured engraved map, strip in centre skillfully restored in facsimile, 'bunch of grapes' watermark.
388 by 538mm (15.25 by 21.25 inches).
15386

To scale:

notes:

notes:

A rare English print of Petrus Plancius' seminal chart of the East Indies. The chart was instrumental in helping the Dutch break the Portuguese monopoly on the spice trade in the East Indies.
Following the successful Dutch rebellion against their Spanish overlords in 1579, the Dutch struck out to take a share in the lucrative trade in spices from the Far East. In 1592 Petrus Plancius, a cartographer and Flemish minister in the Calvinist Reform Church, sponsored a cove...

bibliography:

bibliography:

Gadd, 'Wolfe, John', (Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 2008); Suarez (SEA) p. 177.

provenance:

provenance:

This site is registered on wpml.org as a development site. Switch to a production site key to remove this banner.