Acquired From: Leen Helmink
Colouring: Coloured
Condition: Very Good
Confirmed: Yes
Date Acquired: 22/4/2018
Description: Pieter van der Aa was a publisher, bookseller, and engraver based in Leiden in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. He was not a mapmaker in the technical sense, but he produced many maps and views by adapting earlier French and Dutch sources for large multi-volume atlases such as Le Nouveau Théâtre du Monde (1713) and La Galerie Agréable du Monde (1729).nThis chart of the Banda Islands, long known in Europe as the original Spice Islands because they were the worlds only source of nutmeg and mace in the early modern period, is organised as a working sea chart rather than a land-focused map. The islands are set within an open field of radiating rhumb lines, indicating compass bearings used for navigation. The emphasis is maritime: the surrounding waters are carefully structured, while the landmasses are relatively simple in outline.nThe islands are shown separately rather than as a continuous coastline, reflecting their role as navigational points in the Banda Sea. Soundings and coastal markings guide approach, and the grid of latitude and longitude reinforces the claim to measured accuracy. The title (les meilleures cartes levées sur les lieux) states that the chart is based on the best maps surveyed on location, suggesting reliance on direct observation. The wide expanse of surrounding sea further emphasises the isolation of these small but economically significant islands.
First published: Nouvel Atlas, Leiden: Pieter van der Aa, 1714
Mapmaker: Aa, Pierre [Pieter] van (1659-1733)
Price: 500
Primary Category: Southeast Asia
Purchase Reference: Ledger 2022
Rarity: R2 Very rare – one or two copies appear on the market
Technique: Copper Engraving
This state: La Galerie Agréable du Monde: Tome premier dAsie, Leiden: Pieter van der Aa [1725-1729]
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