The first state of Frederik de Wit’s ‘terrestrial’ map of the world, with the cusps between the hemispheres empty, and with no added outer border. In the second plate, c. 1680, ‘Nova Guinea’ and ‘Quiri Regio’ have been added to the South Pacific in the western hemisphere. The map was included in atlases published not only by de Wit, but also Nicolas Visscher, and 

’ heirs, and was copied by many others.

Frederik de Wit’s double-hemisphere world map includes significant new cartographic detail in Southeast Asia and the South Pacific to the north of New Zealand. De Wit adopted Nicolas Sanson’s model of California as an island and eliminated the Straits of Anian. The map lacks additions in Southeast Asia, including Nova Guinea and Quiri Regio, which would be added to the second state of the map. 
	
At the same time, information about North America appears rather dated. The northwest coast of America is virtually blank; the form of Hudson's Bay is not well developed; and the configuration of the Great Lakes is outdated. This has led to some speculation that the map may have been engraved several years before its publication date.

The map is most notable for its luminous border illustrations in the corners of the four seasons, the elements, and the signs of the zodiac in a well-balanced and naturalistic way.

 (1630–1706) moved to Amsterdam in 1648 where he began work as a cartographic engraver. His plan of Haarlem was issued around the same year as well as city views for Antonius Sanderus’s ‘Flandria Illustrata’. He was initially apprenticed to 

, but by 1654 he had his own business, issuing his own map of the world, ‘Nova Totius Terrarum Orbis Tabula’, as both a wall map and a folio map sheet in 1660. Two years later, he began to print atlases, the earliest of which were small compilations of prints from the stock of contemporaries.

De Wit was granted the privileges of citizenship of Amsterdam after he married Maria van der Way, who was a native of the city. He became a member of the Guild of Saint Luke there in 1664. In 1675, he published a maritime atlas, ‘Tabula Maritimae’ and in 1695, a book of city views of the Netherlands, ‘Perfekte aftekeningen der steden van de XVII Nederlandsche provincien’. The plates were later bought by the Blaeu family and reused for their town books. After the death of de Wit, Maria continued the business until 1710, but his son, a successful stockfish merchant, did not follow his father into cartography.

Frederik De Wit’s ‘Terrestrial’ map of the world was issued as a companion to his ‘Maritime’ map of 1668 (see SC-TM-1668[1715c]-deWit-WorldMapMaritime) and, like that map, reproduced and copied by contemporary Dutch cartographers for decades. This first state of the ‘terrestrial’ map, is one of the most decorative of its time with vibrant scenes in the corners of the four seasons, the elements, and the signs of the zodiac. 

First state of Frederik de Wit’s “Terrestrial” map of the world, issued as a counterpoint to his “Maritime” map of 1668, and like that map, reproduced and copied by contemporary Dutch cartographers for decades.

Double-page engraved copperplate double-hemisphere map of the world, with contemporary hand-colour in full.



De Wit’s Terrestrial World Map