The View of Ascension Island:   Vera eddigies et delineatio Insulae Ascenscio....vande linea equinoctial.  Baptista a Doetichum sculp.

Original copperplate printed map
Fine Handcolor
262 x 345 mm
Map # AF-414
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The map shows three detailed views of the island from different perspectives.  This is done as a guide for pilots to show how the island looked as approached from the sea.  Two compass roses provide sailing directions.  A fleet of ships flying the Portuguese standard and likely returning from the east are at the top of the map.   Numerous sea life - flying fish, other fish, and birds - are depicted to indicate the importance of the area as a source for fresh food.   An elaborate cartouche dominates the upper right of the map.  Text within cartouches is in Latin with descriptive information on Ascension in Dutch.  The engraver for this map is the famed engraver, Baptista van Doetechum.

Linschoten (1562-1611) was employed as Secretary to the Portuguese Archbishop of Goa in India from 1583.  Here, he had access to many Portuguese portolans as well as other valuable commercial information.  Linschoten returned to Holland in 1592 and there wrote a history of his years of travel, the Itinerario..., which incorporated all that he had learned from the Portuguese.  This book and the accompanying maps provided precise information on the Portuguese sea routes to the East,  their re-supply points around Africa, and their trading stations in the East.  The book had a tremendous influence on Dutch expansion in the East and particularly in Java.

This map appeared in Linschoten's book published in Dutch in 1596, in Latin in 1599, English in 1598, French in 1610, 1619, & 1638 and again in Dutch in 1605, 1614, 1623 & 1644 (Tooley, p. 67).  There is a penciled notation on verso of this map with a date of 1644.  With Dutch text on the map, it is likely that this map is from a Dutch edition, quite possibly from 1644.

(Linschoten, Discours of Voyages into Y East & West Indies,  Facsimile of the London 1598 edition. Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, Amsterdam, 1974.  Tooley, Guide to Maps of Africa, p.67).

Attractive view in very good condition overall:  as is typical of many Linschoten maps, re-margining of left and right sides with slight loss on left margin to just inside neatline.   Many of Linschoten's plates were made too large for the book and thus, during the the process of binding, many of the edges of the maps were trimmed very close leaving almost no margins.  Repair to bottom separation not entering map image.