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1ST ISSUE OF SEMINAL ATLAS, SPLENDID CONTEMP. COLOURING:
A BRILLIANT CARTOGRAPHIC CONCEPT
KEERE, Pieter van der and Petrus MONTANUS. Germania Inferior id est, XVII Provinciarum ejus novæ et exactæ Tabulæ Geographicæ, cum Luculentis Singularum descriptionibus additis.
Amsterdam, Pieter van der Keere, 1617. Royal folio (41 x 29 cm). Atlas of the Low Countries with engraved title-page and 24 engraved double-page maps, each map with letterpress text on the reverse. Further with 1 large woodcut head-piece and 1 large woodcut tailpiece (each with several repeats) and numerous woodcut initial letters. Title-page, all maps and all woodcut decorations and letters sumptuously coloured by a contemporary hand, with frequent highlighting in gold. Nineteenth-century half roan, paste-paper sides incorporating 4 sheets of gold-brocade decorated paper (2 mostly covered), one signed by Johann Maisch, Nürnberg (active 1820, died 1849).
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First Latin edition of Pieter van der Keere's folio atlas of the Netherlands dedicated to the States General of the United Provinces. The text for the atlas was written by Van der Keere's brother in law Petrus Montanus while Petrus Scriverius, Daniel Heinsius and Petrus Bertius contributed with an introductory elegy and Latin and Greek poems. Van den Keere's maps were not entirely original. Some, like the famous Leo Belgicus, were printed from revised copperplates purchased a few years earlier at the auction of Cornelis Claesz. Others were inspired by maps by Abraham Ortelius, Gerard Mercator and Jodocus Hondius. The value of these maps of the provinces did not lie in their geographical originality but in a skilful mixture of exceptional engraving with a standardized way of showing town views and costumed figures, within the concept of the first national atlas.
As usual in the first issue, this copy of the atlas does not include the Ubbo Emmius/Cornelis Claesz. map of East Friesland. After assembling and issuing a few copies Van den Keere decided to still include this map in the atlas, although he did not have an accompanying text available and it is not listed in the contents. In the later issue this map is often inserted between pages 80 and 81, or pages 86 and 87.In the second Latin edition of 1622 the map of East Friesland has text on the back and has been put at the end of the atlas, with the page number 93, and signature Nn. After 1623 the plates were sold, probably to Claes Jansz. Visscher. They resurfaced in many similar atlases that were to follow.
In good condition, with a large tear repaired, running into the image of one map and with the leaves slightly browned and thumbed. The binding is slightly worn. The breathtaking first national atlas of the Low Countries, beautifully coloured and highlighted in gold.
