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3D Object World Map, in two hemispheres, engraved or struck on silver, and bearing the track of Drake's 1577-1580 circumnavigation of the earth Silver map / Drake silver map

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About this Item

Title

  • World Map, in two hemispheres, engraved or struck on silver, and bearing the track of Drake's 1577-1580 circumnavigation of the earth

Other Title

  • Silver map
  • Drake silver map

Summary

  • A splendid example of the Drake Silver Map or Silver Medal, a piece commemorating Sir Francis Drake's circumnavigation of the earth, and in itself a treasure of the art and science of cartography. This specimen bears the following inscription ( extant only on this copy ), in a cartouche in the oceanic regions below Africa: "Micha:[el] Merca:[tor] fecit[.] extat Londi[ni] prope templu Gallo:[rum] An[n]o 1589.*"; (trans.) "Michael Mercator made (this). It is available at London near the church of the Frenchmen, 1589." As we know from John Stow, 1 the French church was in the old building known formerly as the Hospital of St. Anthony of Vienna, built in 1231 a synagogue, soon after expropriated, and again expropriated in Henry VIII's reign.

Names

  • Mercator, Michael, -1600
  • Hans and Hanni Kraus Sir Francis Drake Collection (Library of Congress)

Created / Published

  • 1589.

Headings

  • -  Drake, Francis,--approximately 1540-1596
  • -  Discoveries in geography--English
  • -  Geography--Early works to 1800
  • -  Commemorative medal

Notes

  • -  The medal is 68 mm. diameter, with a small tang projecting 2 mm. at the North Pole, pierced with a minute hole. Weight, 383 grains Troy. In a red leather case.
  • -  The map is of considerable cartographic importance. It depicts not only the newly established colony of "Virginea," but also the Drake discoveries in Upper California. It is the second published map to include these features; apparently only the map inserted in the Hakluyt edition of Peter Martyr's Decades (1587) preceded it.
  • -  There is considerable variation in the weight of the known examples of the Silver Map, the lightest weighing 260 grains, the heaviest 424 grains. The present example is intermediate; it weighs 382 grains. There is much doubt as to the method by which the medallions were made. Miller Christy, author of the earliest detailed study, refers to it as "cast or struck" and to the "die or mould" used in its preparation. Lord Milford Haven remarks that "it was at one time believed that these pieces had been struck with a die in imitation of engraving, but a recent careful comparison showed that each had been engraved by hand." A. M. Hind the latest authority, is equivocal, remarking that this and similar pieces "were multiplied either by striking afresh with a die taken from the original engraved counter, or by repeated engraving with the aid of paper or vellum prints from the original impressed on the new surface as a guide to the engraver."
  • -  drakenew

Medium

  • 1 medal ; 68 mm in diameter.

Repository

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • 2021699442

Online Format

  • pdf
  • image

Additional Metadata Formats

IIIF Presentation Manifest

Rights & Access

The contents of the Library of the Sir Francis Drake Collection have no known copyright restrictions and are free to use and reuse.

More about Copyright and other Restrictions.

For guidance about compiling full citations consult Citing Primary Sources.

Credit Line: Library of Congress, Rare Book and Special Collections Division.

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Mercator, Michael, -1600, and Hans And Hanni Kraus Sir Francis Drake Collection. World Map, in two hemispheres, engraved or struck on silver, and bearing the track of Drake's -1580 circumnavigation of the earth. 1589. Pdf. https://www.loc.gov/item/2021699442/.

APA citation style:

Mercator, M. & Hans And Hanni Kraus Sir Francis Drake Collection. (1589) World Map, in two hemispheres, engraved or struck on silver, and bearing the track of Drake's -1580 circumnavigation of the earth. [Pdf] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2021699442/.

MLA citation style:

Mercator, Michael, -1600, and Hans And Hanni Kraus Sir Francis Drake Collection. World Map, in two hemispheres, engraved or struck on silver, and bearing the track of Drake's -1580 circumnavigation of the earth. 1589. Pdf. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2021699442/>.