Granata Nova et California

Slight blue marks in the lower margin. This very rare map of California by Johannes Metellus appeared in De Natura Nova Orbis by José de Acosta. It is a reduced version of the Cornelis Wytfliet map of the same name in 1597.

Wytfliet's map is the first printed map devoted to the California peninsula and the southwestern United States of today. To the north of the map, the inscription "Civitatum Septem Patria" is an early printed reference to the Seven Cities of Gold, a myth that led to several expeditions by adventurers and conquistadors in the sixteenth century.

The two maps are very similar, with some omissions on the Metellus map. Although there has been some debate about which map preceded the other, Burden assumes that Wytfliet's work was published first. Metellus' map is much rarer than Wytfliet's. Burden 120