| Method | Copper engraved with original hand colour |
| Artist | Jansson, Jan |
| Published | c. 1650 |
| Dimensions | 398 x 500 mm |
| Notes |
Jansson's map of Wiltshire, from the Atlas Novus. The boundaries of the county and its constituent hundreds are outlined in hand colour, as are the adjoining parts of the counties of Berkshire, Hampshire, Dorset, Somerset and Gloucestershire. Rivers, hills, and forests are shown pictorially. The map is further ornamented by a decorative cartouche. The title is flanked by a pair of agrarian figures, the top corners are decorated with the heraldry of the landed gentry, while to the bottom left a pair of winged cherubs sit on the top of a scale in English and German miles. 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. Condition: Vertical fold as issued. Otherwise excellent. Latin text on verso. |
| Framing | unmounted |
| Price | £600.00 |
| Stock ID | 28186 |