The Great World Maps
Tsurumine's World, Edo, 1844
The whole world, printed from woodblocks in 1844.
- Map
- Map of the world, in Japanese
- Mapmaker
- Tsurumine Shigenobu
- Date
- 1844
- Held by
- Norman B. Leventhal Map & Education Center, Boston Public Library · via Digital Commonwealth
Format
The full-resolution scan, color-managed to the source — yours to print, study, and explore.
Size
$29.00
The story
Tsurumine Shigenobu made this map of the world in 1844, with every name written in Japanese, and it was printed from woodblocks. The continents and oceans that European atlases drew on copper are here cut in wood and lettered in a Japanese hand, so the shapes are familiar and the reading is not. Tsurumine lived from 1788 to 1859, and the map was made when he was in his fifties. Look at the line of the coasts, which carries the grain of the block. It is the same world as the Dutch atlases in this collection, seen from the other side of it.
About this reproduction
- A faithful reproduction of a public-domain map held by Norman B. Leventhal Map & Education Center, Boston Public Library · via Digital Commonwealth — the work is centuries out of copyright.
- Printed to order on 200gsm EMA matte art paper or 400gsm canvas; framed pieces sit behind acrylic.
- Color-managed to the source scan; we correct nothing and invent nothing.
- Ships in 5–10 business days, rolled in a heavy-wall tube (framed and linen-backed pieces ship flat-packed).
- If it arrives less than perfect, we reprint or refund — your choice.
Why our maps cost more than a poster: we print from the highest-resolution scans in existence, at sizes where the engraving itself becomes visible — the sea monsters, the tiny place-names, the burin lines — on matte paper that holds every line without glare.
