$1,560
Stradanus, Johannes (1523-1605) Americae Retectio , Four Engravings. Copper-plate engravings printed on laid paper, c. 1585, plate marks visible, the plates numbered one through four, edges slightly crumpled, with minor discoloration, 11 1/4 x 8 3/4 in. each. (4) The four images engraved by Adrian Collaert for Galle's Americae Retectio in 1585, after Stradanus's drawings, the first plate shows the globe, with Flora and Janus parting the curtains to reveal Europe, Africa, and the Americas, with boats travelling the sea between; the second plate is a tribute to Christopher Columbus, and shows him aboard ship while a riot of sea creatures revels in the sea around him; the third shows Amerigo Vespucci sailing toward the horizon, his mast is broken, but he seems unconcerned, with his astrolabe; the final image has Magellan as its subject, he too is involved in navigational pursuits, although he suffers from a broken mast, the fires of Tierra de Fuego burn on the coast to the left; in all three plates, hordes of allegorical sea creatures and fanciful New World inhabitants romp, in the Magellan print, a bird is flying off with an elephant, and a man wearing nothing but grape leaves is swallowing arrows.
Auctioneer:
Skinner
Date:
2013-11-17