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The Map in "Imagining the Oceans" at Cantor Arts Center

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A new & correct map... by Herman Moll, 1719

One of the exhibitions at the Cantor Arts Center is called Imagining the Oceans, curated by Margaret Cohen, who is the Andrew B. Hammon Professor French Language, Literature and Civilization.The exhibit is at the Marie Stauffer Sigall Gallery at the Cantor Art Center and runs through June 29, 2015.

As part of that exhibition, on display, is one of the maps from the Glen McLauglin Map Collection of California as an Island, which is one of several collections at the Branner Earth Sciences Library:

  

Herman Moll, 1719

 

A new & correct map of the whole world : showing ye situation of its principal parts vis. the oceans, kingdoms, rivers, capes, ports, mountains, woods, trade winds, monsoons, variation of compass, climate, etc. ; with the most remarkable tracks of the bold attempts which have been made to find out the northeast & northwest passages.

Herman Moll 1719.

This remarkable map, considered as a state of the art at the time, was first displayed in 1719, the same year that Daniel Defoe published Robinson Crusoe. Defoe was part of Herman Moll's social circle and one can speculate on each others influences. Defoe was so impressed by this map that he included it in his sequel to Robinson Crusoe, called The Farther Adventures of Robinson Crusoe.

Here a few pictures from the walk-through of the exhibit:

A new and correct map... Herman Moll 1719

 A close up of the cartouche from the map.

 

Margaret Cohen Explaining the Imagining the Oceans Exhibit, 2015

Margaret Cohen explaining the exhibit.

The exhibit is up and free to the public until June 29, 2015 at the Marie Stauffer Sigall Gallery at the Cantor Art Center.