Hereditas Antikvárium

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14. Könyvárverés

Amsterdam, 1599.
A rare, copper-engraved world map by Petrus Plancius, which, among other things, is considered a milestone in the history of maps due to its beautifully crafted frame decoration. Above the intersection of the double hemispherical projections is an armillary sphere and a star map of the northern hemisphere, and below it a delicately elaborated wind rose and an astronomical representation of the southern sky are situated. The southern part of both hemispheres is dominated by a vast southern continent called “Magallanica” under the influence of Gerard Mercator. The seas of the map field are illustrated by three galleys and a sea monster appearing near the South American coast. It was first published in 1594 and was sold as a single page or as part of composite atlases. In 1599, it was included in some volumes of Linschoten’s “Navigatio ac Itinerarium” (the first Latin edition of the 1596 “Itinerarium”) in an unchanged form. A 1590 Bible map, also linked to the name of Plancius, is considered its cartographic basis. Although its geographical importance is indisputable – especially regarding the Arctic and the Far East region, it provided previously unknown cartographic information (Korea first appeared as a peninsula) – its artistic significance far exceeds it. The richly ornamented frame decoration engraved by Jan van Doetecum, which uses allegorical female figures to personify geographical areas and also shows native flora and fauna, proved to be the style to be followed by map engravers of the following centuries, which gained more and more popularity over time.
The starting point of the viewer’s gaze (the upper left corner) is occupied by the figure of Europe, with a crown on his head, a sceptre in his left hand, a cornucopia in his right, and symbols of science, warfare, commerce, and art at his feet, proclaiming Europe’s supremacy in the hierarchy of civilisation. He is followed clockwise by Asia, Africa, ‘Magallanica’, ‘Peruana’, and finally, ‘Mexicana’.
Dimensions: 410 x 580 (535 x 620) mm. Clear, strong print. Our copy was probably previously bound in a composite atlas as it was mounted on a larger blank sheet and numbered by hand (102).
Poss.: With the mounted embossed stamp of László Gróf L., the well-known map collector from Oxford, on the verso.
Shirley: 187.