Americae Nova Tabula

Una delle più famose e ricercate carte dell’America del diciassettesimo secolo.

La famosa opera di Willelm Janszoon Blaeu viene considerata una delle vette della produzione cartografica olandese.
Quando venne data alle stampe la prima volta come stampa sciolta, nel 1618, la carta riassumeva tutte le più aggiornate informazioni cartografiche dell’epoca e fu considerata un importante punto di riferimento per la produzione di altre carte fino alla metà del secolo. L’editore, Willem Janszoon, adottò il nome di Blaeu per evitare confusione con Jan Janszoon e modificò il suo nome nel terzo stato della carta, a partire dal 1621. I pannelli decorativi ai lati includono vivide rappresentazioni dei nativi americani con i loro costumi provenienti da Virginia, Florida, California (Nove Albions) e altre aree. I pannelli lungo il margine superiore riportano vedute di nove città, tra cui Rio de Janeiro, Mexico City e Havana. La California è ancora raffigurata come una penisola e solo uno dei Grandi Laghi è riportato.

Le colonie in via di sviluppo sono raffigurate lungo i confini costieri orientali, i Francesi in Canada e gli Inglesi in Virginia (l’accampamento di Jamestown). La carta riporta anche le scoperte di ulteriori esplorazioni da arte degli Spagnoli lungo la California.

Willem Janszoon Blaeu, avviò nel 1599 la sua attività di costruttore di globi e strumenti astronomici ad Amsterdam. Nel 1630, dopo aver comprato alcune lastre dell’atlante del Mercator da Jodocus Hondius II, fu in grado di pubblicare un volume di 60 mappe con il titolo di Atlantis Appendix. Cinque anni dopo, pubblicò i primi due volumi del suo atlante Atlas Novus o Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, in sei libri. Dopo la sua morte, Joan (Johannes) continuò l’opera paterna, completando l’intera serie di sei volume dell’Atlas Novus intorno al 1655. Fu inoltre autore di un Atlas Maior sive Cosmographia Blaviana, in 12 volumi pubblicati nel 1662 -72.

Acquaforte, finemente colorata a mano, margini laterali, in ottimo stato di conservazione.

“Willem Janszoon, or Blaeu as he was later to be known, had been issuing separately published maps since 1604. The only atlases he was producing at this time were of the sea. Following the publication of his wall maps of the continents in 1608, one would have expected to see shortly afterwards single sheet versions. However, it was not until 1617 that Blaeu undertook such a project. The date of issue is taken from the Europe in the set.

Similar to the wall map in geography, it does not include many of the cartographical advances made between 1608 and 1617. One of the notable exceptions, however, is the inclusion of Henry Hudson's Bay. The map's popularity rests on its association with arguably the greatest Dutch cartographer of all time. This is one of only a few maps relating to North America by Blaeu. Its visual appeal is enhanced greatly by the inclusion of three decorative borders. The one above contains nine plans or views of towns. The side panels each contain five portraits of figures. These are drawn from various sources, including Theodore de Bry.

In the same year the results of Jacob le Maire and Willem Cornelisz Schouten's voyage around Cape Horn became known. They showed that Tierra del Fuego was an island and not connected to the unknown southern continent. Owing to law suits that were filed between the Australian Company and the Dutch East India Company, Blaeu was legally barred from incorporating this new information on his maps and globes in July 1617. This restriction was not lifted until August of the following year. Blaeu immediately updated this work to include Fretum le Maire and State landt. He also removed the coastline of TERRA AUSTRALIS INCOGNITA east of the title cartouche, mysteriously leaving the name behind. Therefore state 1 of the plate, having a life of at most about eighteen months, is extremely rare. Indeed, as late as 1955 only one example was known.

A third state appeared with a revision changing the name to Blaeu in 1621. Keuning wrote in detail about this period of time and the various forms in which we find his name. The change was as a result of the competition of Jan Jansz and the obvious similarities of their names. This state was to appear through to 1630 without text on the reverse. It also appeared in this form in the Atlantis Appendix. This was Blaeu's first attempt at a world atlas, largely instigated by his purchase in 1629 of a number of Jodocus Hondius' plates, and in the following years he would experiment with various formats. In all of these it would appear with text. The author has uncovered two previously unrecorded states with new engraving to the embellishments in the oceans.

Blaeu died in 1638 and the business passed to his sons, Cornelis and Joan. The latter particularly carried the family name and was the driving force behind the multi-volume Atlas Major. On 23 February 1672 a fire at the firm destroyed its cartographic production. Some plates were dispersed at auction but the America map is not known to have been reused. There was one curious issue of the plate. In 1633 it was printed with the decorative border somehow masked leaving just the main map. It was used to illustrate Warhafftige Beschreibung aller denckwürdigsten Geschichten by Emanuel van Meteren, printed from Blaeu's press. A summation of the known states is listed below. All examples without text on the reverse are extremely rare.” (Burden " The Mapping of North America", p. 230).

Bellissimo esemplare. Testo olandese al verso.

Bibliografia

Burden "The Mapping of North America", pp. 230-231, n. 189; Tooley, Mapping of America, pl. 169.