Rare, Spectacular World Map, Based on Cassini, on a single Polar Projection

Robyn, 1696 (Danckerts, ca. 1700) :
Nieuw Aerdsch Pleyn. Trimmed to plate as is normal, margin added, folds reinforced, else very good condition. Full original color. $12,500.

Stunning single polar projection inspired by the Cassini map of 1650, extremely significant for its use of triangulation over large areas. California is an island with a flat north coast. Parts of New Zealand and Tasmania appear, and Australia tentatively connects to New Guinea.

Shirley states that the map was almost surely devised by Andreas van Luchtenburg, and the fine mythological borders engraved by Jacob Harrewyn--

“It seems very likely that this single-sheet version by Jacob Robyn
was also devised by Andreas van Luchten-burg whose participation is acknowledged on the companion celestial map. The new and distinctively drawn mythological scenes in the corners of the map were almost certainly engraved by Jacob Harrewyn who collaborated closely with both Robyn and Luchtenburg at this time.”

Giovanni Domenico Cassini was an Italian-born French astronomer who discovered four of Saturn's moons, and the gap in the rings of Saturn now called the Cassini division. Cassini became professor of astronomy at the University of Bologna 1650 at the age of 25.

Cassini disputed the Copernican cosmological model, as well as the idea that light has a finite speed. During 1664–67 Cassini determined the rotation periods of Mars, Jupiter, and Venus. In 1669 he departed for France at the invitation of King Louis XIV, to construct and run the Paris Observatory. In 1675 he distinguished two zones within what was thought to be the single ring around Saturn. Cassini correctly suggested that the rings were composed of myriads of tiny satellites.

In the 1670s Cassini made many observations of details on the lunar surface. He also took advantage of a good opposition of Mars 1672 to determine the distance between the Earth and that planet. He arranged for Jean Richer (1630–1696) to make measurements from his base in Cayenne, on the northeast coast of South America, while Cassini made simultaneous measurements in Paris, which permitted them to make a triangulation of Mars. From the result, Cassini was able to deduce many other astronomical distances. When he went blind about 1710, his son Jacques Cassini succeeded him at the Paris Observatory.

Shirley 582.