Ortelius, Abraham

Asiae Nova Descriptio

      Antwerp, 1575 37 by 48.5 cm. Coloured; split of 5cm lower part centerfold. The rarer first plate of Ortelius' map of Asia, with "Farfana" capitalized in the lower right hand corner. One of only approximately 1575 copies printed from the first plate. An important depiction of the expansion of European power in the Far East. The map was based on Ortelius' own 1567 wall map of Asia, which drew on Gastaldi and Albufeda. The Indian subcontinent and Malaysian Peninsula are easily recognizable. Ceylon and Sumatra are correctly placed, though their shape leaves something to be desired. The Philippines are distorted and Japan is too far to the north and incorrectly oriented, with the embryonic outline of the three main islands and with the Rykus and Taiwan appearing as a tail of islands to the south of the archipelago. Cortazzi, plate 19; OAG, plate 10c; Broecke, Ortelius 7; Tibbetts (1978) map 34, p.48..