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A Magnificent, Complete Copy of Jansson’s Eight-Volume City Atlas
In Full, Vibrant Coloring of the Period, Heightened with Gold
Atlas.
JANSSONIUS, Johannes. [Amsterdam, 1657]
Theatrum Urbium Celebriorum totius Belgii sive Germaniae Inferioris [suivi de :]Theatrum ... Germaniae Superioris [suivi de :] Theatrum ... Galliae et Helvetiae Urbes [suivi de :] Theatrum Septentrionalem Europae[suivi de :] Theatrum... Italiae...
Folio
8 volumes in folio; contemporary Dutch publisher's vellum, covers gilt and gilt-panelled with large arabesque centerpieces, spines gilts, yap edges, green silk ties, gilt edges. 500 map plates, all in superb original color, many heightened with gold; fine condition.
Extremely rare, complete, sole edition of the most comprehensive and certainly the most beautiful early city atlas ever published. No atlas of cities and towns has ever provided as vibrant and richly detailed a portrait of its subject as this one. Moreover, no complete copy of the atlas has appeared at auction in over 30 years nor has one been in recorded map catalogues.
Pictured above, top to bottom, are Krakow, Venice, and Valletta (Malta).
The copy offered here is of exceptional and sustained beauty. All plates have been finished with period Dutch hand coloring of the finest quality. Many have also been heightened with gold, silver, or both. In fine, gold-stamped 17th century bindings, the works’ condition is also consistently of the highest grade.
Jansson’s Theatrum Urbium was the only Dutch atlas to attempt a complete or near complete visual catalogue of the cities and towns of Europe. (One of the work’s volumes consists of plates of American, Asian, and African cities.) While the Theatrum followed in the tradition of the first city atlas, the Cologne-published Civitatis Orbis Terrarum of Braun and Hogenberg, and in fact adapted many of its plates, Jansson’s work far transcended the earlier one in both scale and aesthetic quality. Moreover, Jansson’s town books were far more ambitious in both size and scope than the city atlases produced by his great rival, the house of Blaeu. Jansson’s comprehensive, eight-volume work had already appeared when Joannes and Cornelis Blaeu were still planning their atlas of the "cities of the world." In fact, the Blaeus would never issue a comprehensive urban atlas; at different times, the Blaeu firm published a two-volume town book of the Netherlands, then later a three-volume town book of Italy, and later still a few volumes were published by their heirs to supplement the Italian town books. In 1653 Jansson acquired the nearly 500 plates of the Civitates Orbis Terrarum from Abraham Hogenberg, of which 232 were adapted and incorporated into the town books. For many plates of the cities of the Netherlands, Jansson ordered new copperplates, many of which were engraved after works by his rival, Blaeu.
Perhaps the single most distinctive graphic feature of Jansson’s city atlas, as well as the source of its unique beauty, is the contextual detail of its views and plans. Each was put in the context of its surroundings (mountain, sea, etc), then enlivened by figures in local costumes or by scenes typical of the region, and ornamented with one or more cartouches. The largest cities are often portrayed in multiple plates, but also at times, one double plate will depict views of two or more different cities.
Dutch map production reached its zenith in the mid-seventeenth century, largely in the works of Blaeu and Jansson. The two firms were in continuous competition with each other in both the quality and types of atlases they offered. Johannes Janssonius (1588-1664), better known under the name of Jan Jansson, was born in Arnhem, where his father was a printer and editor (Janv. Janszoon, the elder). In 1612, he married the daughter of the cartographer and editor, Jodocus Hondius, and became the editor of travel books in Amsterdam. From 1616 onward he began editing and compiling maps, starting with those of France and Italy. In 1630 he partnered with his brother-in-low, Henricus Hondius, with whom he published several editions of the Mercator-Hondius world atlases. After the death of Henricus Hondius, Jansson continued with great success his activity as a map editor and compiler, which reached its peak in the publication of the present eight-volume town atlas.
The set collates as follows:
- 2 volumes: Theatrum... Belgii sive Germaniae inferioris, illustrated with 113 city views (Bruges, Dunkerque, Lille, Arras, Namur, etc.)
- 2 volumes: Theatrum... Germaniae superioris, illustrated with 155 views Strasbourg, Buda, Liège, Nuremberg, Salzbourg, Vienne, etc.)
- 1 volume: Theatrum Galliae & Helvetiae, illustrated with 41 views (France & Switzerland: Paris, Lyons, Marseille Avignon, Geneva, Zurich, Basel etc).
- 1 volume: Theatrum Septentrionalem Europae, illustrated with 53 views: Great Britain, Ireland, Scandinavia, Poland, (Krakow, Warsaw), Russia (Moscow).
- 1 volume: Theatrum... Italiae, illustrated with 60 views and 19 engravings in the text (Rome, Milan, Florence, Napoli).
- 1 volume: Theatrum... Hispaniae, illustrated with 59 views (2 folding), including not only Spanish and Portuguese cities but also the Americans colonies such as Cusco, Mexico, San Salvador, Rio, Pernambuco and the Holy land and North Africa (Isfahan, Calcutta, Goa, Cairo, Jerusalem).
Koeman II, p. 189-200, Ja-12 à 17. |
