World--Waldseemüller, M.

Shirley, Mapping of the World, 35

Condition is described in the main body of the cataloguing, where appropriate
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the world map from the first modern atlas, prepared by martin waldseemüller, and the earliest to incorporate geographical information about the new world from the voyages of columbus and cabral.

"In the introductory text to the atlas there is an ambiguous passage referring to the Charta autem Marina..., (i.e. a Mariner's Chart) derived from observations made by the 'Admiral' or Christopher Columbus. Whether specific information about the New World actually came from this source is not clear; any such data would more probably have been incorporated into the Terra Nova regional map in the atlas. Nevertheless, some authorities still refer to Waldseemüller's world map as 'the Admiral's map'" (Shirley).

The genesis of the map in unclear. The discovery at the end of the nineteenth century of a unique variant with the name "America" added and with other differences caused Henry N. Stevens to speculate that the map was originally conceived in about 1507. In that year Waldseemüller used the name 'America' on his 12-sheet world map, but he later came to regard Columbus as the true discoverer of the New World and did not use the name 'America' in subsequent maps.