A newly discovered Hondius map - Jodocus Hondius 1603 map of the world

Magazine Antiques, Jan, 1999 by Paul E. Cohen, Robert T. Augustyn

In 1993 Brian Hooker argued that the 1608 Hondius map was probably the later state of one printed from the same plates, probably in 1598.(13) Hooker's article may have inspired Schilder, who in 1993 magically produced the 1598 Hondius map referred to above. This map was not printed from the same plates as the 1608 map, but with the discovery of the 1603 map Hooker has been proved correct in believing that there was an earlier edition to the 1608 map.

The wall map is the most endangered of all cartographic works. Of the hundreds probably produced in the seventeenth century it has been reported that "fewer than 50 wall maps have been recorded."(14) Wall maps were often discarded when they were replaced by newer works with more up-to-date geographical information. Even those that escaped the rubbish bin usually deteriorated beyond repair. They were often varnished and became brittle and cracked over time. Most of the seventeenth-century wall maps that have survived are from the Blaeu firm, which has enhanced its reputation. With the recent discovery of Hondius's early wall maps, Blaeu's antecedents are evident and Hondius's important role finally understood.

1 The Map of the World on Mercator's Projection by Jodocus Hondius, Amsterdam 1608... (Royal Geographical Society, London, 1927), p. 1. See also Edward Heawood, "Hondius and his newly-found map of 1608," Geographical Journal, vol. 55, no. 1 (September 1919), pp. 178-184.

2 "A World-Map by Hondius on Mercator's Projection," Geographical Journal, vol. 54, no. 2 (August 1919), p. 123.

3 The Map of the World, p. 1.

4 Sale number MI138, Libri, Manoscritti, Carte Geographiche, Stampe e Gouaches, Lot 12. The map sold for $136,260. Information about the provenance of the map was provided in a letter from Vladimiro Valerio to Paul Cohen, October 17, 1998.

5 Monumenta Cartographia Neerlandica, vol. 3 (Uitgeverij "Canaletto," Alphen aan den Rijn, Netherlands, 1990), p. 36. The forthcoming volume, volume 6, of this comprehensive study of Dutch cartography will be devoted entirely to Hondius.

6 "Willem Jansz. Blaeu's Wall Map of the World on Mercator's Projection, 1606-07 and Its Influence," Imago Mundi, vol. 31 (1979), p. 41.

7 Monumenta Cartographia Neerlandica, vol. 5 (Uitgeverij "Canaletto," Alphen aan den Rijn, 1996), pp. 50-51.

8 Ibid., pp. 60-61.

9 Cited in Heawood, The Map of the World, p. 16.

10 Ibid., p. 7.

11 Cited in Schilder, Monumenta, vol. 5, p. 51.

12 E-mail letter from Schilder to Valerio, January 30, 1998.

13 "New Light on Jodocus Hondius' Great Map of 1598," Geographical Journal, vol. 159, no. 1 (March 1993), p. 45.

14 Walter W. Ristow, "America and Africa: Two Seventeenth-Century Wall Maps," in A La Carte: Selected Papers on Maps and Atlases, comp. Walter W. Ristow (Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., 1972), p. 65.

PAUL E. COHEN and ROBERT T. AUGUSTYN are dealers in antiquarian maps with the New York City firms of Richard B. Arkway and Martayan Lan, respectively. They are the authors of Manhattan in Maps, published in 1997.