Iava Maior

Acquired From: Leen Helmink

Colouring: Uncoloured

Condition: Excellent

Confirmed: Yes

Date Acquired: 17/09/2022

Dealers ID No.: 19123

Description: Claes Jansz. Visscher was a leading Amsterdam map publisher whose output played a central role in shaping Dutch cartography in the first half of the seventeenth century. He established his publishing house in 1611 on the Kalverstraat, close to leading contemporaries such as Pieter van den Keere (View Record (#8), View Record (#109), View Record (#122), View Record (#155), View Record (#217), View Record (#273), View Record (#285)) and Jodocus Hondius I (View Record (#80), View Record (#212), View Record (#253), View Record (#272)). The firms prominence was sustained for over a century by his son Nicolaes Visscher I (View Record (#25), View Record (#93), View Record (#129), View Record (#287), View Record (#299)) and later by his grandson Nicolaes Visscher II maintaining its reputation for geographical accuracy and artistic excellence well into the eighteenth century.nFollowing the death of the publisher Cornelis Claesz in 1612, the copperplates for Barent Langeness Caert-thresoor (1598; #294, View Record (#295), View Record (#296), View Record (#383), View Record (#388)) passed through several hands before being acquired by Visscher. In 1649, he reissued and expanded this material as Tabularum geographicarum contractarum libri quatuor denuo recogniti, a compact atlas divided into four parts: Europae, Asiae (titlepage, View Record (#10)), Africae, and Americae nova descriptio. nAlongside the inherited Caert-thresoor material, the 1649 edition includes twenty-three newly engraved maps among them t Landt van de Eendracht (View Record (#12)), Anthoni van Diemens Landt aldaereerst beseylt ofte ontdeckt by de Schepen Heemskerck ende Zeehaen den 24 November 1642 (View Record (#11)), Java Maior (View Record (#371)), and several plates engraved by Benjamin Wright (View Record (#369), View Record (#370)). The atlas also includes two revised world maps, Typus Orbis Terrarum (View Record (#292)) and Iehova (View Record (#293)) both originally engraved fifty-one years earlier by Hondius for Langeness Caert-Thresoor (1598; #294 and View Record (#296)).nIn this revised state, Visscher depicts the island of Java (Iava Maior) in its entirety, together with portions of Sumatra to the west and Bali and Lombok to the east. Coastal place names are densely distributed, particularly along the northern shore, reflecting Dutch commercial and navigational interests during the period of VOC expansion. The surrounding sea is labelled Mare Lantchidol. In the lower right corner, appears the marking f.25, a binders reference indicating the intended position of the sheet within the atlas.nDecorative elements are minimal, consisting of a simple compass rose and a small ship. Within the atlas, the map functions as a regional counterpart to the more innovative plates devoted to Australia and the southern continent, including t Landt van de Eendracht (View Record (#12)) and Anthoni van Diemens Landt aldaereerst beseylt ofte ontdeckt by de Schepen Heemskerck ende Zeehaen den 24 November 1642 (View Record (#11)), situating Java within the broader context of Dutch expansion in the East Indies.

Engraver: Visscher, Claes Jansz. (1587-1652)

First published: Tabularum geographicarum contractarum libri quatuor denuo recogniti, Amsterdam: Claes Jansz. Visscher, 1649

Image Size (cm): 12.5×8.5

Mapmaker: Visscher, Claes Jansz. (1587-1652)

Notes: Purchased with #370 and #369

Price: 1750

Primary Category: Southeast Asia

Purchase Reference: Ledger 2022

Rarity: R1 Extremely rare – occasionally seen on the market

References: Peter van der Krogt, ed., Koemans Atlantes Neerlandici, vol. 3 (t Goy-Houten: HES & De Graaf, 1997), map 8150:341:54.

Sheet size (cm): 14.3×18.2

Technique: Copper Engraving

This state: First

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