Object of desire

“The most exciting moment of my 21-year career.” That’s how Julien Wilson, Christie’s Senior Books, Maps and Manuscripts specialist, described the recent discovery of an unknown Waldseemuller map.

Created in 1507 by Martin Waldseemuller, it is the earliest recorded printed globe, the first illustration of the world in 360 degrees, the first map to show and name the continent of America, and the first to depict the Pacific Ocean, long before any European ...