Universe Europe maritime eiusque navigationis descriptio

Universe Europe maritime eiusque navigationis descriptio = Generale Paschaerte van Europa, soe verre die Zeecusten ende Navigatien streckende zÿn. Gepractizeert Doer Lucas Jansz, Wagenaer va Enchusè. Met Privilegie tot 10. Iaren. 1.5.83.

Etching with engraving, signed at lower right Joannes à Doetecum. F. From the German edition of the Spieghel der Zeevaerdt.

Third state of Waghenaer's map of Europe, the British Isles, Iceland, and the western Mediterranean, including the Rockall Island and the Latin translation of some of the Sea’s names. Richly embellished with compass roses, sea monsters, sailing ships, coats of arms and rhumb lines, the chart appeared in an early edition of Waghenaer's Speigel der Zeevaerdt and is characterized by the curious circular representation of Iceland, which was revised in later reprints. Waghenaer's Spiegel was the first engraved sea atlas, making this sea chart of Europe and the Western Atlantic the earliest printed sea chart of the region. Because this chart was significantly larger than the others in the atlas, it rarely appears on the market in good condition.

A cartographic curiosity of the work is the presence, to the west of the Irish coast, of the small island of Brazil, or Hy Brasil, depicted in the usual circular form with a river cutting it in two. The island - here called Brasiil - belongs to Irish mythology: covered by a constant veil of mist, it is said to appear for one day every seven years. The legendary island first appeared in a 1325 map by Angelino Dalorto, under the name Bracile, later it was also reported in the Catalan Atlas of 1375 under the name Ihla de Brazil until it was represented in the land maps of Abraham Ortelius and Gerard Mercator. In 1480, Bristol merchants organized two expeditions in search of the site, and sightings continued until the mid-19th century. By that time, however, geographers had begun to name it Brasil Rock, assuming that it belonged to a rock group.

The fine engraving work of Joannes Doetecum is very much in evidence on this map. Doetcum came from a family of printmakers from Deventer, although Joannes and his brother Lucas moved to Antwerp. They engraved not only the maps in the Spieghel’, but also maps for Hieronymus Cock, Gerard de Jode, and Abraham Ortelius.

Lucas Jansz Waghenaer (c. 1533–1606) was a navigator and the author of the ‘Spieghel der zeevaerdt’, the first pilot guide. He spent his early career as a naval officer between 1550 and 1579, interacting with other sailors and gaining vital experience for his later work. He then worked as a duties collector in Enkhuizen, before beginning to work on a project to combine accurate sailing directions with detailed maps. Sailors at the time generally relied on small books called rutters, which were often handwritten, or featured crude woodcut maps. They were wary of printed guides, as they could not be updated or personalised as easily as a manuscript and were thought to be less practical. Waghenaer aimed to change this attitude and chose to do so by publishing his work as a large folio (rather than the traditional oblong), with copper engraved maps and typeset text. The first volume of the ‘Spieghel’ contains instructions on various navigation techniques and the use of the manual, and maps of coasts from Texel to Cadiz, each accompanied by a coastal profile. Portuguese navigators had pioneered the use of coastal profiles in navigation, but Waghenaer was the first to include them for every chart on a consistent scale. The second volume, published a year later, contained charts of the coasts north of Texel. They were engraved by Johannes van Doetecum, one of the finest workers of the age. The charts were based on Waghenaer’s own extensive experience, supplemented by manuscript and printed sources. The accompanying text was based on other sixteenth century navigation manuals. It was a revolutionary success, and was translated into German, Latin and French, as well as an unauthorised English edition. His work was so popular in England that the Anglicized version of his name, ‘Waggoner’, became a generic term referring to sea atlases and charts.

A fine impression, printed on contemporary laid paper, small restorations in the margins that also affect the graduated edge, overall, in excellent condition.

Bibliografia

 T. Campbell, Early Maps, New York, 1981, p. 86, tav. 39; B. Freitag, Hy Brasil: The Metamorphosis of an Island, From Cartographic Error to Celtic Elysium. Amsterdam, 2013; H.A.M. van der Heijden, De Oudste gedrukte kaarten van Europa, Utrecht, 1992, n. 12; C. Koeman, Lucas Janszoon Waghenaer: A Sixteenth Century Marine Cartographer, in “The Geographical Journal”, Vol. 131, No. 2 (June, 1965), pp. 202-212; C. Koeman, Atlantes Neerlandici: Bibliography of Terrestrial, Maritime and Celestial Atlases and Pilot Books Published in the Netherlands up to 1880 Vol. IV, Amsterdam 1970, pp. 465-516, Wag 1A; H. Nails, The Van Doetecum Family, in “The New Hollstein. Dutch & Flemish etchings, engravings and woodcuts 1450-1700”, Rotterdam, 1998, Vol. III, pp. 229-282, n. 794 I/II; National Maritime Museum, Catalogue of the Library - Vol. Three, Atlas & Cartography, Londra, 1971, p. 199, n. 183 (1); G. Schilder, Monumenta Cartographica Neerlandica, Vol. VII, Alphen aan den Rijn, 2003, pp. 80-83, n. 4.2.1, figg. 4.5; G. Schilder - M. von Egmond, Maritime Cartography in the Low Countries during the Renaissance, in “The History of Cartography”, Chicago 2007, pp. 1384-1482; G. Schilder, Early Dutch Maritime Cartography. The North Holland School of Cartography (c. 1580-1620), Leida-Boston, 2017, pp. 67-104, ill. 2.19, 2.44, 2.47; S. Bifolco, "Mare Nostrum, Cartografia nautica a stampa del Mar Mediterraneo" (2020), pp. 68-69, tav. 16.