[VIEWS - NETHERLANDS - ZEELAND].
Speculum Zelandiae dat is: een beschryvinge ofte afbeelding der steden, ambachts-heerlijckheden, dorpen, castelen, ridderlijcke hofsteden, huysen en gebouwen gelegen inde eylanden en de graeflijckheyt van Zeelandt.
Amsterdam, Widow of [Joachim] Ottens and sons, [ca. 1720]. 1mo (32 x 32.5 cm). With an engraved armorial title page and 36 full-page engraved views. Contemporary gold-tooled brown half calf. [37] ll.
€ 5,000
Collection of thirty-six splendid 17th-century views of cities, towns, noblemen's estates, and castles in the Dutch province of Zeeland, with an elaborately decorated armorial title page. The cities shown include Middelburg, Vlissingen, Goes, Zierikzee, Tholen, and Veere. The title appears in an elaborate cartouche with the arms of Zeeland and these six cities, with allegorical figures and a view of a city and ships. The collection includes a view of Middelburg from the harbour side that is not present in most other issues of the Speculum Zelandiae. The views were originally published by Zacharias Roman (1595-ca. 1667), son of the Haarlem printer Gilles Roman.
The title and all views are printed on a single paper stock (watermarked PD = Amsterdam arms), and both it and the stock of the endpapers confirm a date around 1719-1725. Kluiver records no issue with 36 views (his only Ottens issue has the title and 35 views on 9 sheets), but the catalogue of the Van Hattum collection records an Ottens issue with 36 views, though described as a large quarto. The NCC records two copies of an Ottens issue without specifying the number of views, but the title given, unlike ours, mentions Visscher.
The corners and edges of the boards are scuffed, the joints are slightly weakened, but the structural integrity of the binding is still intact, the boards and spine are somewhat scratched and rubbed, affecting the gold tooling and title label. The work is slightly browned throughout, with a repaired tear in the lower margin of the title and one view, a tiny hole in one view, and an occasional minor fold, crease or faint stain. Otherwise a splendid set of Zeeland views, including the rare earlier view of Middelburg from the harbour side. Cf. Donkersloot-de Vrij 776 note (some of the views assembled around a map of Zeeland); Kluiver, De Cartons voor het Speculum Zelandiae, p. 5 (6 other issues of some of the views, including 1 by Ottens); Lantsheer, Zelandia Illustrata, passim & pp. 28-30; Speculum Zelandiae (facsimile of the Visscher ed.); Unger, Cat. v. d. Historisch-Topografischen Atlas v. h. Zeeuwsch Genootschap, passim (30 views from an Ottens issue); NCC (2 copies of a different Ottens issue); USTC 1835158 (2 copies of the Visscher ed.); not in KVK; STCN; WorldCat.
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