| Method | Copper engraved with early hand colour |
| Artist | de l'Isle, Guillaume |
| Published | Par Guillaume de L'Isle de l'Academie Royale des Sciences. A Amsterdam Chez I. Covens et C. Mortier Geographes [Amsterdam, c.1740] |
| Dimensions | 485 x 610 mm |
| Notes |
De l'Isle's large scale map of Poland, encompassing in addition parts of Germany, Hungary, Romania, Moldova, Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, Lithuania, Latvia, and the southernmost tip of Sweden. Regional and national borders are outlined in hand colour, principal cities are picked out in red, and mountains, rivers, and forests are shown pictorially. In the bottom left corner, a baroque title cartouche is flanked by winged heralds on the backs of hippocamps. Another decorative cartouche encloses a scale in Polish, Prussian, Ukrainian, and German miles. A superscript title in latin reads: 'Tabula Regni Poloniae Ducatus Lithuaniae &c.' This particular example is a Covens and Mortier reissue of de l'Isle's map, printed in Amsterdam and most likely from one of the company's many composite atlases. Guillaume de l'Isle (1625 - 1726) was one of the finest cartographers of the eighteenth-century. He is widely regarded as the father of scientific mapmaking, and was the first to utilise the practices of triangulation and mensuration in the production of his works. He believed strongly in the importance of map accuracy. During his lifetime his one hundred or more maps were continuously updated to reflect widening knowledge of the World. Cornelis Mortier (1699-1783) in partnership with Johannes Covens I (1697-1774) began the map publishing company Covens & Mortier (1721-1866). He travelled to Paris in 1681-1685 and won the privilege in 1690 of publishing maps and atlases by French publishers in Amsterdam. He used this privilege to win a similar set of privileges for printing an 'illustrated print bible' in 1700. He died in Amsterdam. Son of Pieter Mortier (1661–1711) an 18th-century mapmaker and engraver from the Northern Netherlands. Mortier was born in Leiden. According to Houbraken, David van der Plas worked with him on etchings for 'Bybelsche Tafereelen' (Bible stories), published in Amsterdam in 1700. Condition: Central vertical fold, as issued. Some splitting to top and bottom of central fold, not affecting map. Foxing and minor time toning to margins. Verdigris from old colour on verso, otherwise blank. |
| Framing | unmounted |
| Price | £600.00 |
| Stock ID | 53444 |