DANIEL CROUCH RARE BOOKS

The only printed chart sanctioned by the Casa de la Contratación 

RUESTA, Sebastian de, Carta nautica del Mar, Costas y Islas de las Indias Occidentales,
Sevilla,  1654. 

The first and only printed padron real (pattern chart) officially endorsed and published by the Casa de la Contratación – the body which oversaw Spanish interests in the New World from the 16th to the 19th century – and the first instance of a cosmographer obtaining an official licence from the Contratación for printing a chart. One of only three known examples, and the only one in private hands.
As one would expect of a chart based on Spanish material, the work marks a significant step forward in the delineation of South America, the Gulf of Mexico, and Florida; much of the cartography would not be improved on until well into the eighteenth century.