Code: 56185
Date: Circa 1648
Copper engraving with original and later hand colouring. Dutch text verso pp 161/162 Overall sheet size: 61 cms x 49.2 cms; 520mm x 378mm. Blaeu’s map is based on the earlier work of John Speed but with many changes and additions. The Blaeu maps are remarkable for their high standard of workmanship :the best paper was used; the best workmen, the best colourists of the day and the ‘Svthsexia’ map is a good example of this beautiful craftsmanship. Even the fleet of ships off the coast are engraved in great detail and the whole map is clear and easy to read; the calligraphy is elegant and clear. Roads have not yet appeared on county maps but the rivers, towns, woodlands and even windmills are shown and, as with the Speed map, the county is divided into its ‘rapes’. The map includes the coat of arms of King Charles I on the left and the old Plantagenet coat of arms on the right (first used by Richard the Lionheart), as well as 4 coats of arms of local noblemen in between. The map first appeared in Joan Blaeu's 1645 atlas of England. Two remnants of tape from old framing on verso; little inkiness in bottom blank areas (C17th flaw occasioned during printing) and odd mark to the very large margins otherwise very good condition .
"As with all productions of the firm of Blaeu, the engraving and layout are all of the highest standard." Rodney Shirley.
Willem Janszoon Blaeu (1571-1638) was a prominent Dutch geographer and publisher. The son of a herring merchant, Blaeu studied mathematics and astronomy . He studied instrument and globe making with the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe. Blaeu set up shop in Amsterdam, where he sold instruments and globes, published maps. In 1635, he released his atlas, Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, sive, Atlas novus.
Willem died in 1638. He had two sons, Cornelis (1610-1648) and Joan (1596-1673). Joan trained as a lawyer, but then joined his father’s business. After his father’s death, the brothers took over their father’s shop and Joan took on his work as hydrographer to the Dutch East India Company. Later in life, Joan would modify and greatly expand his father’s Atlas Novus, eventually releasing his masterpiece, the Atlas Maior, between 1662 and 1672.
