Important medium size map of the Indonesian archipelago from the Mercator-Hondius-Janssonius series of Atlas Minor editions. This map was published in the Cloppenburgh edition for which the maps were re-engraved by Petrus Kaerius (Pieter van den Keere), replacing the smaller maps engraved by Hondius for the Hondius Atlas Minor 1606 edition.

The map is a faithful reduction of the folio sized map in the Mercator-Hondius Atlas first published in 1606.

Miniature atlases such as the Cloppenburg Atlas Minor were popular for their affordability compared to folio editions. Cloppenburgh’s version competed directly with other small-format Mercator atlases, offering newly engraved maps at a larger intermediate size (c. 19 × 25 cm), smaller than the folio maps of the Mercator–Hondius Atlas (c. 35 × 50 cm), but somewhat larger than the earlier Atlas Minor issues (c. 15 × 20 cm).

The Cloppenburg edition appears to have been suppressed after 1636, only to be revived by the Janssonius heirs in 1673 and 1676.

Pristine condition. Beautiful original colour.

Jodocus Hondius the Elder, one of the most notable engravers of his time, is known for his work in association with many of the cartographers and publishers prominent at the end of the sixteenth and the beginning of the seventeenth century.

A native of Flanders, he grew up in Ghent, apprenticed as an instrument and globe maker and map engraver. In 1584, to escape the religious troubles sweeping the Low Countries at that time, he fled to London where he spent some years before finally settling in Amsterdam about 1593. In the London period he came into contact with the leading scientists and geographers of the day and engraved maps in The Mariner's Mirrour, the English edition of Waghenaer's Sea Atlas, as well as others with Pieter van den Keere, his brother-in-law. No doubt his temporary exile in London stood him in good stead, earning him an international reputation, for it could have been no accident that Speed chose Hondius to engrave the plates for the maps in The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine in the years between 1605 and 1610.

In 1604 Hondius bought the plates of Mercator's Atlas which, in spite of its excellence, had not competed successfully with the continuing demand for the Ortelius Theatrum Orbis Terrarum. To meet this competition Hondius added about 40 maps to Mercator's original number and from 1606 published enlarged editions in many languages, still under Mercator's name but with his own name as publisher. These atlases have become known as the Mercator/ Hondius series. The following year the maps were re-engraved in miniature form and issued as a pocket Atlas Minor.

After the death of Jodocus Hondius the Elder in 1612, work on the two atlases, folio and miniature, was carried on by his widow and sons, Jodocus II and Henricus, and eventually in conjunction with Jan Jansson in Amsterdam. In all, from 1606 onwards, nearly 50 editions with increasing numbers of maps with texts in the main European languages were printed.

(Moreland and Bannister)

Pieter van den Keere (Petrus Kaerius) (1571-after 1646) was born in Gent and fled to England with his family in 1584. During the years spent in London, he developed relations with other refugees. Pieter's sister, Colette van den Keere, married Jodocus Hondius in 1587. In 1585, the latter's sister, Jacomina Hondius, had married Petrus Montanus (Pieter van den Berghe), who later wrote the text for Van den Keere's Germania Inferior. Van den Keere's competitor, Abraham Goos (1616: Nieuw Nederlandtsch Caertboeck) was his cousin. And his brother-in-law, Petrus Bertius, contributed to the enterprises of Jodocus Hondius by writing the text for the Tabularum Geographicarum. Clearly, they formed a virtual family trust of map producers in Amsterdam.

In 1593 Van den Keere settled on the Rokin in Amsterdam. There, he worked as an engraver for many publications by Cornelis Claesz., such as the maps for the Nieuwe Beschryvinghe ende Caertboeck van de Midlantsche Zee by Willem Barentsz. (1595), CaertThresoor (1598), and an atlas of the British Isles (c. 1599).

The period 1600-1621 must have been a rather prolific time, in view of the numerous copperplates listed in the inventory of 1623. The tide seems to have turned in 1621 or 1622, when his wife died. He made his will in 1622. Then in 1623, he married Anneken Winninghs, a teacher's daughter and widow, and announced that he intended to sell his plates. It seems as if he had fallen on hard times; his atlas of the Netherlands had not yielded as much profit as he expected. There was no follow-up to the second Latin edition of 1622 and the French edition of 1621-1622. His friend and collaborator, Petrus Montanus, was ill; the fact that there were so many outstanding competitors in the engraving profession made it difficult to find well-paid work. He tried to increase his income by publishing newsletters between 1618-1620 (the first newspapers in the Netherlands) but then stopped for reasons unknown. From 1623 on, he seems to have been entrusted with only 'small' jobs such as maps for the Atlas Minor by Johannes Janssonius, 1628, for the Atlas by Jan Evertsz. Cloppenburch, 1630, and folio atlas maps for Johannes Janssonius in the years between 1633 and c.1645. Several of them are found in the atlas of the Ancient World of 1652. The map Zeelandia Comitatus' in Janssonius Atlas Minor bears the statement 'Petrus Kærius Flander Cælavit Ætatis suæ 75' — a very noteworthy achievement in the eye-straining engraving profession. The date of his death could not be found in the records in Amsterdam.

His Germania Inferior is the first original atlas of the Netherlands published in folio size. The text for the atlas, both in Dutch and in French, was written by Petrus Montanus. After 1623, the plates were sold, probably to Claes Jansz. Visscher, who substituted his name for that of Van den Keere. In 1634, Visscher included many of these maps in his Germania Inferior.

(van der Krogt)

Antique maps of the East India Company
Antique maps of Australia
Antique maps of the Philippines
Antique maps of Southeast Asia
Old books, maps and prints by Jodocus Hondius
Old books, maps and prints by Pieter van den Keere