One of the most dramatic world maps of the eighteenth century, Seutter's map follows the 1696 'Planisphaerium Terrestre…' of Carel Allard, very closely (see Shirley 578). The familiar western and eastern hemispheres are complemented by an array of smaller hemispherical projections, including polar, oblique and a pair that centre on the Indian and Pacific oceans. The four small diagrams show latitudes, longitudes and the tilt of the earth's axis.

In all the projections, California appears as an island five times, with 'Terra Essonis' extending west from North America. Japan incorporates a large 'Terra Yedso' (Hokkaido). The coastlines of Australia and New Zealand are emergent, and New Guinea is shown twice, once in each of the larger hemispheres. The map shows the tracks of several explorers, and the whole is surrounded by a decorative border of wind-heads and clouds.

Published in Seutter's 'Atlas Novus' from 1730.

The mapmaker
Mattheus Seutter (1678-1757) III, was an engraver, globe-maker, and publisher of maps and views in Augsburg. "Originally apprenticed as a brewer, he broke off that training and was apprenticed to J.B. Homann in Nuremberg, the leading map publisher of that time and later set up business in his native Augsburg together with his son, Albrecht Karl (1726-1762); he was joined in 1740 by his son-in-law Tobias Conrad Lotter, who had married his daughter Euphrosina in 1740. After Albrecht's death, his widow had no interest in continuing the business, so she sold it to Johann Michael Probst and Tobias Conrad Lotter, equally. Ritter (2002) points out that, by 1717, Seutter's tax was a total of 1 guilder, based on capital; below the average for the 50 tax-paying copper engravers in Augsburg. However, by 1731 or 1732, Seutter had earned due recognition and was given the title of Imperial Geographer by the German emperor Karl VI, and in 1741 was granted a printing privilege, as evidenced in the second state of this map" (Hubbard). Seutter first published his 'Atlas Geographicus' in 1728 and subsequently expanded it under the title 'Atlas Novus'.