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BEAUTIFULLY COLOURED COMPOSITE ATLAS
[DANCKERTS, ALLARD, VISSCHER, DE WIT, MORTIER and others]. Atlas.
[Amsterdam], [Theodorus and Cornelis III Danckerts?], ca. 1706 (dated maps 1694-1706). Imperial folio (53.5 x 33.5 cm). Composite atlas, with an engraved title-page, 43 double-page engraved maps and 4 double-page engraved tables, all beautifully coloured in a consistent and balanced manner by a contemporary hand, probably in the workshop of the publisher. With maps by Johannes, Justus, Theodorus and Cornelis III Danckerts, Carel and Abraham Allard, Nicolaas Visscher I & II, Frederik de Wit, Pieter Mortier, Caspar Specht and even Alexis-Hubert Jaillot in Paris. Modern maroon sheepskin, printed "marbled"-paper sides.
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The makeup of the atlas resembles that of one published by Theodorus and Cornelis III Danckerts sometime between 1703 and 1713 (Koeman, Dan 4). Not only do 13 of the present 20 Danckerts maps and plates appear in that atlas (and 5 more in the slightly earlier Dan 3), but it also apparently begins with the same allegorical title-page, drawn by Gerard van Houten (d. 1706) and engraved by Petrus Schenk I (1660-1711) and ends with the same plate of flags. Both include Cornelis Danckerts's Nieuw Aerdsch Pleyn, a world map in an equidistant polar projection. A world map with the same title appears in a maritime composite atlas dated 1683 by Jacobus Robyn, also with a title-page by Van Houten and Schenk (Koeman, Rob 9; Philips & LeGear 493).
Nine of the maps are by Carel Allard or in one case his son Abraham, who took over his stock in 1706. The father brought out many maps and some atlases, the latter mainly composed of maps from the stock of other publishers like Janssonius and De Wit. For that reason he was not able to obtain a privilege from the authorities for his atlases. However a number of maps should be considered as his original creations. For such maps the States of Holland had granted him a privilege. The original geographical maps by Allard, designed and cut between ca. 1680 and 1700 are very decorative, well-composed and up-to-date.
Although nearly half the maps in the present atlas are by the Danckerts family, several of the most recent maps in the atlas are by Pieter Mortier, but given the strong French flavour of his atlases, the present does not seem to fit into his oeuvre. Little is known about Caspar Specht in Utrecht and no atlas by him is known. He is represented here by the map of the Dutch Republic with the seven provincial coats-of-arms, and by two tables with small maps and numerous coats-of-arms with related data, all from the years 1702 to 1706. His 1706 table devoted to Germany and its heraldry refers to maps by Visscher, Allard, De Wit and Mortier, but not Danckerts, whose workshop contributed more than twice as many maps to the present atlas as any other cartographic workshop.
The maps are numbered in manuscript in both upper corners. With the title-page somewhat tattered and with a restauration affecting the end of the banderole, but generally in good condition, with occasional minor tears and folds. A composite atlas apparently assembled and coloured by an Amsterdam map publisher ca. 1706.
A complete list of the maps is available on request.
