Sometimes referred to as "The Birth Certificate of America" or "The Map That Named America", the Waldseemüller Map, Universalis cosmographia secunda Ptholemei traditionem et Americi Vespucci aliorum que lustrationes, was the first to affix the name America to the New World, and Waldseemüller and his partner Matthias Ringmann are credited with naming the continents (or at that point, South America) in honour of the Florentine explorer Amerigo Vespucci.

Only a few hundred copies were made. Thought lost for hundreds of years, the sole known surviving copy was rediscovered in a castle library in the early 1900's, where it stayed for another century until the Library of Congress acquired it for 10 million dollars. It is a huge map, and was printed in many parts due to the limited printing capabilities of the time. The seams are evident, both where lines do not line up fully, and age has darkened the map differently.

It is often hard to tell what the product will actually look like, especially on shirts, prints and other larger scale products. This product is made from a very high resolution file which gives intricate detail and wonderful resolution. Below is a sample detail at 1/4 of the actual scale (meaning the resolution of the source file is actually four times better). Click the image to open a view of the full scale sample from the master file used to create this product, which should give a better idea of what the resolution on the product will look like.

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High Resolution image suitable for large or small copies. This is a reproduction of an early Martin Waldseemller map and may have been digitally enhanced to repair flaws, major stains, etcetera. Vintage World Map by Martin Waldseemüller.

Image courtesy of OldBookArt.com. Visit their Blog or their Gallery to find thousands of other free images and maps from public domain sources.

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Many Images are from Books and Maps for Sale at ZephyrusBooks.com .

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