Map Details
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| Number: | 2483 |
| Continent: | Africa |
| Region: | East |
| Place Names: | Madagascar |
| Year of Origin: | 1609 |
| Title: | [cartousch] I.S. Laurentij ; [upper margin] 498 DESCRIPTIO INS. MADAGASCAR. |
| Sub-Title: | |
| Language: | Latin |
| Publish Origin: | Amsterdam |
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| Cartographer: |
Cornelius Claesz Petrus Bertius |
| Engraver: |
Benjamin Wright |
| Publisher: | |
| Other Contributors: |
Jodocus Hondius, Sr. |
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| Measurement Notes: | modern estimates |
| Notes: | Tooley-Adams; A fine miniature map of the island of Madagascar, one of four maps in the atlas engraved by Benjamin Wright and probably published in the 'Map Treasury'. Latin text on verso. The first edition of the map appeared in the 1598 edition of Barent Langenes miniature atlas Caert-Thresoor, and the same copperplate was used in at least a dozen other works over the next two generations including Claes Jansz Visscher Tabularum geographicarum (1649) each properly honours the merit of Wright's masterly engraving includin The Visscher-Langenes Atlas from Claes Jansz Visscher is an exceedingly rare and lovely miniature atlas, Tabularum geographicarum contractarum libri quatuor denu? recogniti (Amsterdam, 1649), a late edition of the atlas Caert-Thesoor, which was first issued under mysterious circumstances in 1597, following some arrangement between the Amsterdam publisher Cornelis Claesz and the obscure Middelburg publisher Barent Langenes (the supposed first edition is now thought lost). Re-issued in several editions over the two generations from 1598, the work set the gold standard for miniature atlases, as Koeman noted 'The small maps [it contained] are extremely well-engraved: neat and clear and elegantly composed'. Indeed, the maps were of uncommonly fine engraving, done by artists such as Jocodus Hondius I, Pieter van den Keere and Benjamin Wright. Many of the maps were based on groundbreaking information from recent Dutch voyages of exploration or current events. The leading Amsterdam publisher Claes Jansz Visscher acquired many of the original Claesz-Langenes plates, plus many of those from the subsequent editions of the atlas, as well as some additional plates not previously published; incorporating all of these into the production of the Tabularum geographicarum (1649). The individual maps are very rare, and the atlas is known in only 2 complete examples, at the British Library and the University of Heidelberg. The present map of Madagascar is extremely rare; .References: Koeman, Atlantes Neelandici, vol. III, Vis 4 - Lan 15 (p. 162); Map Forum (online article), ?arent Langenes: A Collation of his Tabularum Contractarum 1649? no. 205. RARE. KING: Miniature Antique Maps pp.80 - 82. |
| Last updated: May 8, 2017 |