The Rare Thevet Map of Asia

Andre Thevet, 1575 :
Asie. State 1. 14 x 18 inches. Light toning in margins. Excellent. [sold]

(note that this map is difficult to photograph and the image does not fairly represent it!)

André Thevet was a Franciscan monk and the royal cosmographer to Henry III. He travelled to Brazil both with Guillaume le Testu in 1551 and with Nicolas de Villegagnon in 1555, on the latter expedition settling at Guanabara, present-day Rio de Janeiro.

The quality of Thevet’s woodblock is extremely sophisticated, reflecting the peculiarly French finesse for fine woodcuts. At a time when the copperplate had already become the preferred medium, this work’s detail and refinement is vastly superior to the woodblock maps still being produced in Germany, Switzerland, and to an extent even in Italy. Thevet was a strong proponent of the theory that the indigenous people of America were the descendants of the lost tribe of Israel; his enthusiasm for the idea was instrumental in propelling it into the next century. The subtitle of his map of America, “the fourth part of the world”, is a carry-over from Waldseemüller and his 1507 treatise about Vespucci.

The following commentary on Thevet (regarding the corresponding map of America) is from Gloria Gilda Deak's Picturing America, which has some relevance here:
“[...Thevet has here made an attempt to identify the many settlements in the two continents and to give the names of numerous mountains and rivers. Topographically, the map is richly engraved.
“Within the cartouche addressed to the `amiable reader', Thevet, a learned Franciscan monk, genially presents his map as the most accurate thus far of the New World and promotes the book in which it appears by affirming that he has tried to please the reader with ample descriptions of the many topographical features. He calls particular attention to his exacting marking of the degrees of longitude and latitude. Friar Thevet was among the few cosmographers of the sixteenth century who travelled to the New World, and he made many claims to firsthand information. He states that on his return from visiting Brazil in 1555, his ship coasted much of the eastern seaboard of North America; but scholars, inclined to doubt some of Thevet's claims, see the value of his map in the compilations rather than in fresh geographic facts or projections.”