New Guinea and Australia--Jode, Cornelis de.

The condition of this item is as described in the catalogue description
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

The first separately printed map of Australia

This famous map is the first devoted to New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, while showing a large part of the great southern continent, Terra Australis Incognita, but perhaps as famous for a vignette scene depicting a bowman doing battle with a fearsome dragon, and numbers of other curious winged creatures, and a merman and mermaid.

The relative position of the section of Terra Australis with New Guinea has led some to posit that, however inaccurate it might be, this is the first printed map of Australia, based on (unrecorded) explorations pre-dating the recorded Dutch contacts, perhaps by Portuguese or French mariners.

The Latin text on the reverse notes "Huic regioni à Meridie est magnus ille terra Australis tractus, qui ubi detextus fuerit quintam mundi partem constituet, adeo amplus & immensus putatur" (To the south of this region [New Guinea] is that great tract Terra Australis, which when it is [fully] discovered will form a fifth part of the world, if it is as large and immense as thought).