Gerard Mercator Junioris AfricaThis striking map is one of the most well researched and

This striking map is one of the most well researched and influential maps of the continent map to the end of the 16th century. It was produced by Mercator's grandson and first was published in 1595, the year after his grandfather's map. This uncommonly available example of the map was included in the 1619 French edition of the Gerardi Mercatoris Atlas published by Jodocus Hondius and Cornelis Claesz, to whom the Mercator family sold the plate.

The accuracy of the coastline was unsurpassed for many years. Much of the interior of Africa is in the Ptolemy tradition with the  White Nile River shown to arise from the two lakes near the Mountains of the Moon. Drawing from Portuguese texts, Mercator shows European advance into the interior, such as exploration along the Cuama (Zambezi) River and Ca. Portogal (the Portuguese Fort), which is between the Spirito and Cuama rivers.

Mercator avoided the common practice at the time of including 'elephants for want of towns';  the only decorative item in the continent is the legendary priest-king Prester John, who is seated in Ethiopia. The decorative cartouche includes fruit and two satyrs. The map is beautifully engraved and the sea is depicted in the moiré pattern for which Mercator is well known.

See lot 191 for the Hondius map of Africa that was included in the Gerardi Mercatoris Atlas.

Reference Richard Betz. Mapping of Africa, HES and De Graaf, 2007, #31