L'America Settentrionale. Nuovamente corretta....[California Island]

An attractive Italian edition of a seminal map of America, in its first state and with an exceptional contemporary old color.
In 1677, the map was published by Giovanni G. de Rossi depicting North America, Central America, and West Indies with California depicted as an island. This map is thought to have been taken largely from Guglielmo Sanson's 1669 map with some additions such as Iceland and the British Islands.
The map was a part of de Rossi’s atlas of maps entitled 'Mercurio Geografico'. The actual shape that is depicted of Isola di California is believed to have been derived from a 1635 map made by English explorer, Luke Foxe. San Diego, Santa Barbara, Monterey, Point Reyes, Mendocino and other recognizable landmarks are noted on the western portion of the California island.
Canada is named in the east.
New France is shown as most of the northeast portion of the continent. Also depicted is New England and the Low Countries (the Netherlands) with New Amsterdam (New York City). Significant attention is paid to the West Indies and islands throughout the Gulf of Mexico, as well as to Mexico and other regions throughout Central America.

Includes a detailed California as an Island on Sanson's model, early open-ended Great Lakes (one of the earliest appearances of the 5 Great Lakes) and a mislocated pre-La Salle/ Jolliet/ Hennepin Mississippi Configuration, pushed well West of its true location and quite speculative in its course.
Nice detail in the Spanish Southwest along the Rio Grande, locating Taos and Santa Fe in the North and identifying Cibola. A number of early Indian names, including the Apaches and Zuni appear. A Lago de Oro is shown off the Gulf of California. Quivera appears in modern day Texas, along with Granada.
The East Coast of North America includes many early place names, including N.Amsterdam, Chesapeac, Powhata, Gotheburg (an early Swedish Settlement), Bristou London, Plimouth, Nassau, Elsinburg, R. Iourdain, etc. Engraved by Giorgio Widman.

Giovanni Giacomo de Rossi (1627 – 1691) was an Italian engraver and printer, active in Rome in the second half of the 17th century. His father, Giuseppe de Rossi (1570-1639), was the founder of the most important and active printing press of the 17th century in Rome. The printing press began in 1633, by Giuseppe de Rossi, and it passed firstly to Giovanni Giacomo and to his brother Giandomenico (1619-1653), and then later to Lorenzo Filippo (1682-?); in 1738 it became the Calcografia Camerale, from 1870 until 1945 the Regia Calcografica, and today it is known as the Calcografia Nazionale. Here are conserved, amongst many others, the plates of Giambattista Piranesi (1720-1778).[1]
Giovanni Giacomo de Rossi was the most involved of all the various family members who ran the press, and he worked between 1638 and 1691 and was to take the company to the height of its success.

Reference: Burden, 491. McLaughlin, 65.