The paper is unusually heavy, and if there is any watermark it is small and difficult to make out. Trimmed close to the plate edges and folded down the middle, with remains of a stub from mounting in the folio atlas or pilot guide and with two small holes through the fold. Otherwise a very good copy of an important map for the history of the exploration of the Arctic and east Asia. Besides showing the remarkably accurate contemporary mariner s view of the coasts, it provides hundreds of historical names for cities and towns along the coast, the most important ones written in red. While most Portolan charts cover the entire Mediterranean on a smaller scale, the present gives a more detailed view of part of the Atlantic coast.
French charts are also less common than Italian or Iberian ones.
North is at the top as defined by the scales of miles. The rhumb lines are drawn in brown, green and red following the usual convention, islands are coloured in red and green, and the coastline is emphasized with colour, dividing the continental coast into seven sections. Rocks and sandy shallows along the coast are indicated. The rhumb lines project from a central point at Ribadus on the northern coast of Spain and from sixteen points points forming a circle around it, with compass roses at the E, NE, SE, NNW and SSW points. A similar compass rose from Spain ca.