North America--[Forlani, Paolo]

Beans: Two states of the Zaltieri North America, Imago Mundi 14 (ilusl.); Burden, Mapping of North America 33; Tooley, Maps in Italian Atlases 81; Woodward, Forlani map of North America, referring to six examples; Woodward, Maps and Prints of Paolo Forlani 37.01; Woodward, Paolo Forlani map 46

The condition of this item is as described in the catalogue description
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The extremely rare first state of the first separately printed map of North America, and the only map of North America published by the Lafreri school.

"Despite its limited geographical importance, it would appear that the map has achieved considerable iconic significance for collectors in the last few decades... Reasons for this increase include its status as the earliest collectible map to name the strait separating the American and Asian continents and as the earliest separately published map of North America" (Woodward).

Within the map Forlani includes detail from Jacques Cartier's voyage to New France and information from Coronado's exploration of the south-west, with the Sierra Nevada mountains named.

This example is the first state of the map, without an imprint in the title cartouche. While frequently termed a proof, and indeed it may be just such, an alternative suggestion is that Forlani prepared the map for his own use and then, when he had achieved sufficient financial compensation from selling examples, he sold the plate on to Zaltieri, a more significant publisher.

While the first state is rare in any terms - Woodward gives six institutional locations, and Burden and Tooley between them an additional six locations - the map is virtually never seen on the open market, with the Beans example perhaps the only other example of the first state recorded in private hands in the last seventy years. Indeed, Burden lists no example in private collections, with no example in the Library of Congress.