1657ca VISSCHER UNUSUAL ANTIQUE COPPER ENGRAVED TWO-HEMISPHERES WORLD MAP

Description: Striking and highly detailed very interesting 1657 approx. Nicolaes Visscher's copper engraved double hemisphere world map, surrounded by engravings including allegorical representations of the continents as well as native inhabitants and wildlife. This is Visscher's first world map to be included in Dutch Bibles. It was so popular that the surrounding decorations were copied by several other cartographers. Two celestial spheres are displayed in the Eastern Hemisphere. In the lower part of the Western Hemisphere text describes the discovery of America and recent voyages of discovery. Two diagrams depicting the Ptolemaic and Copernican theories of the solar system are tucked between the hemispheres. The northwest coast of North America is exaggerated and shows California correctly as a peninsula. Parts of Australia and Van Diemen's Land are shown but the north and east coasts of Australia are not depicted. German text on reverse.
 
This map was initially conceived and prepared by Visscher to be included in the prestigious editions of the Bible in Dutch (Statenbijbel). His iconographic style became an absolute reference model for biblical cartography for the next hundred years.
 
Decorative Elements: The spaces left by the two large hemispheres feature elaborate, richly detailed allegorical figures. The upper and lower corners personify the four continents known at the time (Europe, Asia, Africa, and America), accompanied by local costumes, fauna, and exotic scenery.
 
Astronomical Diagrams: Between the two terrestrial hemispheres are two smaller hemispheres (an upper and a lower) illustrating the constellations and celestial systems.
 
Geographical Limits of the Period: The map faithfully reflects the state of seventeenth-century exploration. Australia (Terra Australis Incognita) is beginning to reveal the partial outlines surveyed by Dutch navigators, while North America still features large, unexplored and approximate areas.
 
References: Shirley #401; Poortman & Augusteijn #83. 

Date: 1657 approx. ( undated )

Dimension: Paper size approx.: cm 50,3 x 35,1

Condition: Very strong and dark impression on good paper. Paper with chains and wiremarks. Map contemporary handcolored. Margins partially missing and redone. Small foxing. Small tears restored. Map professionally washed and restored. Map folded. Conditions are as you can see in the images. MAP SOLDED IN THE CONDITIONS.

Cartographers: The Visscher Family
 
For nearly a century, the members of the Visscher family were important art dealers and map publishers in Amsterdam.
 
Claes Jansz. Visscher, or N.J. Piscator (1587-1652)
 
Claes Jansz. Vischer bought a house in Amsterdam, 'de gulden Bors', on the important Kalverstraat and changed the name into "In de Visscher" and it was under this title that the shop was to flourish for many years. He was famous for his engravings and etchings of Dutch landscape and of 'historical scenes', such as sieges, battles, etc. These 'historical scenes' were considered as contemporary illustrated news items, especially, e.g., that of 'the Eighty Years' War'. For the publication of his first atlas, he bought copperplates of the atlas Germania Inferior by Pieter van den Keere (1623). In 1649, he published an atlas entitled Tabularum Geographicarum Contractarum, containing the same maps as Langenes' Caert Thresoor, for which Visscher had only new title-pages engraved. Claes Jansz. Visscher died in 1652. His wife, Neeltjen Florisdr., had already died in 1640. They had seven children, four of whom were still alive at Claes Jansz.'s death. One of them was Nicolaes Visscher I, who was to continue his father's business.
 
Nicolaes Visscher I (1618-1679)
 
Nicolaes Visscher I entered into a partnership with his father and continued the business and stayed on the Kalverstraat 'in de Visscher' till his death. About 1657, the first edition appeared of his Atlas Contractus Orbis Terrarum. Between 1664 and 1677, several editions of his Atlas Contractus appeared without a printed index, for these atlases had no fixed contents, but were composed according to the buyer's financial leaping-pole. In May 1664, Nicolaes Visscher was admitted as a member of the Booksellers' Guild of his town. In July 1677, he was granted a patent of the States of Holland and West-Friesland for the printing and publishing of maps and atlases for a period of 15 years. After this, he again published an Atlas Contractus, this time with a printed index. At about the same time, he also brought out an Atlas Minor.
 
Nicolaes Visscher II (1649-1702)
 
Nicolaes Visscher II inherited the 'shop' from his father. To obtain a new privilege he applied to the States of Holland and West-Friesland in 1682, for a patent for printing and publishing maps. This patent was granted to him the same year. He moved the firm to the Dam, but it kept the same signboard: "In de Visscher". Around 1683, he published his first Atlas Minor with a printed index of 91 maps. In 1684, an atlas Germania Inferior appeared. Till 1697 he published another number of atlases. He used his grandfather's (Claes Jansz.) maps less often now and relied more and more on his own. The wars waged in this time initiated the compilation of maps of the countries where the armies were operating. Many maps of war were included in the various editions of his Atlas Minor. After Nicolaes' death, his wife, Elizabeth Verseyl, published all the maps of war in the form of an atlas under the title: De Stoel des Oorlogs in de Wereld (The seat of war in the world).
 
The widow of Nicolaes Visscher II (?-1726)
 
His widow continued the business energetically, and by her hand, under the name of her deceased husband, numerous atlases appeared, e.g., several editions of the Atlas Minor, an Atlas Maior and De Stoel des Oorlogs. The shop enjoyed a high reputation owing to the great variety of the assortment. Not only 'Visscher' maps, but also maps of other publishers were obtainable. With the death of Elizabeth Verseyl, in 1726, the last descendant died of a great map- and atlas-publishing firm in Amsterdam.