[Asia, Japan] ORTELIUS, Abraham (1527-1598).
Iaponiae Insulae Descriptio Ludoico Teisera auctore.
Engraved map with original hand color in full.
Antwerp c. 1595 (1606).
18" x 22" sheet, 27 1/4" x 31 1/2" framed.

This landmark map was the first map of Japan published in a European atlas. Ortelius received the map from Ludovico Teixeira, a Portuguese Jesuit cartographer and mathematician. While Teixeira had not personally traveled to Japan, he obviously had access to Japanese sources as the map presents the first reasonably accurate and recognizable depiction of the island nation with numerous Japanese place names. Korea appears as an island tapering to a point labeled Punta dos ladrones. The map is elegantly embellished with three large galleons, two elaborate cartouches, and a boldly engraved border. This influential map was to become the basis for many other cartographers' maps of Japan for more than fifty years.

References: Van den Broecke #165; Walter OAG #5, plt. 19.