Seutter, Matthäus | The Island of California

Seutter, Matthäus 

Novus Orbis Sive America Meridionalis et Septentrionalis.... Augsburg: [circa 1730]

Copperplate engraved map (to sight: 598 x 516 mm). Handcoloring; a few stray spots. Matted, framed, and glazed; not examined out of frame.

One of the last maps to depict California as an island

This ornate map of the western hemisphere offers extensive detail of the Americas, including a rendering of California as an island. Tooley notes that Seutter altered the representation of the island of California by adding mountains, rivers, and numerous place names. Consulting and then conveying the most up-to-date cartography of the period was secondary to Seutter—the present map's primary aim was to lure potential German settlers to the region.

REFERENCE

Leighly, California as an Island 165: XXV; Tooley, Mapping of America 132