Engraved map hand-coloring, visible area 14 x 19 1/4 inches (356 x 489 mm). Framed and double-glazed (unexamined out of frame). Decorative cartouche, vignettes of ships and sea monsters. Italian text on verso.

ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS EARLY MAPS OF THE AMERICAS. Regarded as a "keystone map" which provides the best general picture of the settlement of the New World in the latter part of the sixteenth century" (Goss). According to Burden, "the most important introductions on the east coast is the Indian name WINGANDEKOA, and just to the north an inlet. They both originate from the unsuccessful English attempts at colonising the Outer Banks of present-day North Carolina. It has been suggested that the inlet could be the first depiction of Chesapeake Bay on a printed map." Burden 64; Goss 11; Van den Broecke Ort11.