Description

Rare Thesis with Unique Cartographic Depictions: This unusually lavish presentation of a thesis by Count Schlick, presented at Salzburg University, features little-known and unusual maps of New Holland (Australia) and the Pacific. The book includes two complex maps depicting discoveries of the previous century and a third plate with three different world map projections. A frontispiece found in other copies is not present in this one.

Map Characteristics: The finely executed maps are set within detailed, highly stylized plates. The “Nova Hollandia” map has a distinctive, unusual shape reminiscent of late-seventeenth-century designs and differs from contemporaneous maps like Thevenot’s. Some aspects, such as California depicted as an island, appear outdated for the book’s publication period.

Scarcity: This book is surprisingly scarce, with only four German and two other library holdings identified, and a single copy in the State Library of New South Wales in Australia. None of Schlick’s maps are recorded by Tooley.