Pascaart van Europa. Als mede een gedeelte van cust van Africa

Etching and engraving, 435x530 mm, signed in the plate in the lower right title block: By Theunis Iacobsz op't water inde Lootsman.

First state of two, before the variations – after the Jacob's death in 1679: a land mass located north of Iceland, a new shape of the Spitsbergen archipelago, and a sea monster placed under the Greenland.
Magnificent example, with fine original colors; trimmed and applied on and old thick paper support - as usual at the time for the nautical atlases.

The chart is from: Nieuw ’en groote Loots-Mans Zee-Spiegel, lnhoudende De Zee-Kusten van de Noordsche, Oostersche, en Westersche Schip-vaert; vertoonende in veele nootsaecklijcke Zee-Caerten, at de Havens, Rivieren, Baeyen, Reeden, Diepten, en Drooghten; seer curieus op sijn behoorlijcke Polus-hooghte geleght, en versien met Opdoeninge der principaelste Landen, in op wat Cours en Verheyt sy van malkanderen gelegen zijn: Als mede De gelegentheyt van de Noordelijckste Landen, die gelegen zijn tusschen Straet Davids, en Nova Zembla: met veel Zee-Caerten en Opdoeningen versien. By een gebracht uyt ondersoeckinge van veel ervaren Stuer-luyden, Lootsen, en Liefhebberen der Navigatien. Met noch een Instructie ofte Onderwij s in de Konst der Zee-vaert, ale mede nieuwe Tafelen van des Sons en Sterren declinations: Met een Almanach tot den Jare 1666. t'Amsterdam, Gedruckt by Jacob Theunisz, op 't Water, in de Loots-Man, Year 1663.

Second printed version – from a new copperplate - of the first reduction in format of in-folio atlas of Europe and Mediterranean by Willem Janszoon Blaeu (1621) which Theunis Jacobsz published in Amsterdam in 1644, in De Lichtende Columne , Ofte Zee-Spiegel. Jacobsz, shortly before he died in 1650, sold his copper matrices to the competitor Pieter Goos who reprinted them canceling Jacobsz's signature.

The eldest son of Theunis Jacobsz, Jacob, who took over the business, was forced, therefore, to make new copper matrices for the updated edition of the nautical atlas, which was composed, for the most part, from the old text of the Zeespiegel, republished with a new title: Nieuw 'en groote Loots-Mans Zee-Spiegel. The first known edition is from 1662, but it is also probable that previous versions exist (see Koeman, IV, pp. 236-237, note 1). Although the maps show a great similarity with the previous ones, they contain many small differences. The map of Europe also stands out - simply - for the editorial imprint that in the first version is: t’Amsterdam by A. Iacobz

Theunis Jacobsz (also known as Anthony, around 1606 - 1651), founder of a thriving publishing house and press in Amsterdam, added the adjective Lootsman to his name. He held an important position in the group of Amsterdam publishers specializing in nautical works; after Jacob A. Colom, he was the first to publish a nautical guide - De Lichtende Columne, Ofte Zee-Spiegel - on the model introduced by W. J. Blaeu. The first edition of his collection must have appeared before 1644. According to Koeman (see vol. IV, p. 233, Jac 14, note 1), in fact, if the first edition with text in Dutch is the one dated 1644, there are probably previous editions. After his death in 1651, his wife continued the activity until his sons, Casparus and Jacob, took over the printing press, updating and publishing his father's work in multiple languages and editions.

Jacob Anthonisz. Lootsman (aka Theunisz. 1631 - 1679), son of Theunis Jacobsz and brother of Casparus must have been the latter's partner in the printing and publishing sector. Casparus Anthonisz. Lootsman (also known as Jasper Theunisz. Lootsman, 1637 - 1711) became a member of the guild of booksellers "Guild of St. Luke" on August 17, 1665. He was one of the printers of the city in 1675 and, after the death of his brother Jacob in 1679, entered into partnership with his nephew Jacob Conijnenberg, son of his sister. After 1651, the year of his father's death, the publishing imprint of the typography often contains both the name of the father and the children; some of the works bear the name of only one of his sons, others mention the two brothers.

Bibliografia: 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. 233-238, Jac 19A-B, (1); cfr. R. Shirley, Maps in the Atlases of the British Library, Londra, 2004, pp. 1185-1187 e 1224-126.