Hereditas Antikvárium

Fair Partner ✔
16. Könyvárverés

Amsterdam, 1630.
A scarce “carte-a-figures” map of the British Isles by Claes Janszoon Visscher (see lot 145). The cartographic basis of this beautifully designed engraving is John Speed’s regional depiction, but in the case of Scotland, Visscher also updated the representation with the results of Timothy Pont’s surveys of the 1590s, and in the case of Ireland, he altered the page with data from military reconnaissance. The engraver, Abraham Goos illustrated the work with ships, a sea monster, and a compass rose, and in the upper right corner, he placed an inset map of the Orkney Islands surrounded by a strapwork cartouche. Two further finely detailed cartouches can be seen on the left side of the map field: one containing the title and the publisher’s name, the other the linear scale. The five couples in the five images surrounding both sides of the page show the costumes of the representatives of different British social classes. Our copy was most likely sold as part of a composite atlas, so the publisher cut off the two – upper and lower – border strips, which were originally included in the engraving – those enclosed twelve bird’s-eye views of major cities, the individual coats of arms of the three country parts as well as the united coat of arms for the kingdom, and the portraits of King James I and his son, Prince Charles –, and joined back their thin frame decorations under and above the map field to make the modification less noticeable but still allowing the desired map to fit into the volume.
Dimensions: 375 x 530 (410 x 535) mm. Approximately 2 cm of the right-hand frame decoration of the slightly darkened copy is missing. The sheet has been folded there, and the strip torn along the fold line has been destroyed.
Schilder VI.: 87.2., Shirley (British Isles): 384 (state 2.).