Asia recens summa cura delineata

Cartographer(s): Henricus Hondius
Date: 1631
Place: Amsterdam
Dimensions: 37.5 x 49.5 cm (14¾ x 19½ in)
Condition Rating: VG

Out of stock

SKU: NL-00032 Category:

Early 17th century map of Asia with misshapen Korea.

Details

Striking map of all of Asia based on the 1623 map of Asia by Henricus’s brother Jodocus, but without the decorative panels. The map extends from the Arabian peninsula through the East Indies. There is a wide expanse of ocean between the northeast coast of Asia and the northwest coast of America, most of the latter of which is conveniently covered by a dedication cartouche to hide the lack of geographic knowledge.

Korea is shown as a long peninsula and Japan is plotted on the Ortelius/Teixeira model.

This became the standard map of Asia throughout the 17th century. Two hunters flank the title cartouche and the map is embellished with animals, ships, and sea creatures.

Cartographer(s):

Henricus Hondius

Henricus Hondius (1597-1651) was a Dutch engraver and cartographer and a member of a prominent family of mapmakers and publishers in Amsterdam. His father, Jodocus Hondius, an engraver and geographer, had purchased part of the estate after Gerhard Mercator. Henricus was instrumental in the first Hondius edition of Mercator’s 1595 atlas (1606). When the father died in 1612, the family business was passed on to him and his brother, Jodocus the Younger. They ran the firm together for nine more years until Henricus decided to venture out independently.

Family ties remained close, and in the early 1630s, Henricus joined forces with his brother-in-law (husband to his sister), the highly skilled engraver Johannes Jansonnius. Together, they recreate and expand the Mercator atlas to such an extent that its contents since have come to be classified as Mercator-Hondius-Janssonius maps. Henricus Hondius died in Amsterdam in 1651.

Condition Description

A little wear along centerfold with verso tape repair at its foot. Minor wear in right margin, minor marginal soiling; very good.

References