| Method | Copper engraved |
| Artist | Jansson, Jan and van der Aa, Pieter |
| Published | [A Leide, Chez Pierre van der Aa, Avec Privilege. c.1729] |
| Dimensions | 135 x 195 mm |
| Notes |
A map of part of Scotland from the 1729 printing of the very rare Nouveau Petit Atlas ou Nouvelles Cartes Geographiques. This map shows northern Scotland from the River Tay north, including the Hebrides and Orkney Islands. The title, in French, is enclosed in a boxed cartouche, and a smaller scale in German miles is included in the top right corner. For this particular printing, the map plate has been set within a much larger decorative border plate, featuring van der Aa's imprimatur in French. The Nouveau Petit Atlas was for the most part made up of plates from the Jansson Atlas Minor. Although the maps themselves remained unchanged, van der Aa reworked or replaced the cartouches, titles, scales, and some of the text for each plate before reprinting. Jansson himself had inherited a large number of his own plates from the Hondius family, meaning that although van der Aa's atlas was first printed in 1714, the geography and style of its plates is more what one would expect from maps of the previous century. Johannes Janssonius (1588 - 1664) was a famed cartographer and print publisher. More commonly known as Jan Jansson, he was born in Arnhem where his father, Jan Janszoon the Elder, was a bookseller and publisher. In 1612 he married the daughter of the cartographer and publisher Jodocus Hondius, and then set up in business in Amsterdam as a book publisher. In 1616 he published his first maps of France and Italy and from then onwards, produced a very large number of maps which went some way to rival those of the Blaeu family, who held a virtual monopoly over the industry. From about 1630 to 1638 he was in partnership with his brother-in-law, Henricus Hondius, issuing further editions of the Mercator/Hondius atlases to which his name was added. On the death of Hondius he took over the business, expanding the atlas still further, until eventually he published an eleven volume Atlas Major on a scale similar to Johannes Blaeu's magnum opus. After Jansson's death, his heirs published a number of maps in the Atlas Contractus of 1666, and, later still, many of the plates of his British maps were acquired by Pieter Schenk and Gerard Valck, who published them again in 1683 as separate maps. Pieter van der Aa (1659 – 1733) was a Dutch publisher, best known for preparing maps and atlases. Despite producing his own work, van der Aa is also known for his production of pirated editions of illustrated publications and foreign bestsellers. Beginning his career as a Latin trade publisher in Leiden in 1683, van der Aa's ambition was to one day become the most famous printer in the city. In 1715, van der Aa was appointed the head printer for Leiden and its university. Condition: Central vertical fold, as issued. Minor time toning to edges of sheet. Blank on verso. |
| Framing | unmounted |
| Price | £225.00 |
| Stock ID | 50414 |