Item Number:  25820
Category:  Antique maps > World and Polar
References: McLaughlin - #12 State 1 (of 2), Baynton-Williams New Worlds - p.133

Old world map in polar projection, by L. Renard.

Date of the first edition: 1715
Date of this map: 1715

Copper engraving, printed on paper.
Size (not including margins): 43 x 27cm (16.8 x 10.5 inches)
Verso: Blank
Condition: Original coloured, excellent.
Condition Rating: A+
References: McLaughlin, #12 State 1 (of two); Baynton-Williams New Worlds, p.133.

From: Renard L. Atlas de la Navigation et du Commerce. Amsterdam, 1715.

This is the engraved frontispiece to Renard's sea-atlas, showing the globe being supported on the shoulders of Hercules, who can be recognized by his lion skin and club.
In one version of the story of his labours, Hercules held up the world while Atlas, who normally had that burden, stole the 'Apples of Hesperides' from his own daughters. However, Hercules then had to trick Atlas into resuming his responsibility.
The projection is unusual, because it shows the whole world in one single hemisphere, rather than the more familiar North Pole projection extending south to the Equator, as one would expect. This, of course, causes much distortion, but not the lateral widening of Australia. Other oddities shown include California as an island, a northwest passage, and a river right through sub-equatorial Africa, linking the Atlantic with the Indian Ocean.