Iapponia et Terra Eso

Mappa in miniatura tratta dall’Atlas minor, Das ist: Eine kurtze, jedoch gründliche Beschreibung der gantzen Weldt. Incisa da Abraham Goos o Pieter van den Keere, venne pubblicata per la prima volta da Johannes Janssonius nel 1628.

L'Atlas Minor di Gerard Mercator fu concepito da Jodocus Hondius nel 1607 come edizione ridotta del popolare Atlas di Mercator in folio. L'Atlas Minor doveva essere più grande di un atlante tascabile, ma più piccolo di un atlante in folio, e aveva un prezzo adeguato a raggiungere una diversa clientela.

Ci furono tre diverse edizioni dell'Atlas Minor pubblicate da autori diversi, ognuna con una nuova serie di mappe incise in rame. Jodocus Hondius pubblicò la prima edizione tra il 1607 e il 1621, e successivamente vendette le tavole in rame ad editori inglesi; tra il 1635-39 fu pubblicata un'edizione inglese dell’opera utilizzando molte delle tavole originali. Johannes Janssonius volle competere anche nel mercato dei “piccoli” atlanti e fece incidere nuove lastre di rame da Pieter van den Keere e Abraham Goos per la propria edizione dell’Atlas Minor, pubblicata in più lingue tra il 1628 e il 1651 La terza e ultima versione fu pubblicata da Jan Evertsz. Cloppenburch (o Cloppenburg) tra il 1630 e il 1734, con nuove mappe incise principalmente sempre da Pieter van den Keere.

"Shortly after the publication of the big folio-atlases the need was apparantly felt for a smaller-sized atlas, one that would be handier, and, above all, cheaper, so that a larger public might have access to the use of maps. The publication of the Atlas Minor appeared to be a great success for Hondius; the first Latin edition was in great demand. The copperplates of the first atlases minor were most almost certainly engraved by Jodocus Hondius himself. After 1621, the copperplates of the Atlas Minor were sold to a London editor. Firstly, they appeared in Purchas his Pilgrinies, printed in 1625 by William Stansby for Henry Featherstone. Next they were used for the translation of the Mercator-atlas, printed in small folio under the title Historia mundi, or Mercators atlas, by Thomas Cotes for Michael Sparke and Samuel Cartwight in 1635". (cf. Koeman II Me 191).

"As with the Theatrum of Abraham Ortelius, Jodocus Hondius planned a reduced size version of Gerard Mercator's folio atlas. Just one year after his first edition he published his Latin text Atlas Minor in collaboration with Jan Jansz. and Cormelis Claesz. The arrangement between these three is not understood clearly but Hondius is believed to have been the owner of the copperplates. Cartographically this is taken directly from the folio maps by Hondius in 1606 [..]. with the inevitable loss of detail due to the reduction” (cf. Burden, The Mapping of North America, 153). 

Johannes Janssonius (1588-1664) era figlio di un omonimo tipografo, editore e libraio di Arnhem. Nel 1612 sposò Elisabetta Hondius, figlia di Jodocus Hondius I, e nello stesso anno fondò una propria casa editrice ad Amsterdam. Alla morte di Jodocus I, nello stesso anno, iniziò ad aiutare la vedova di Hondius a continuare la pubblicazione dell'atlante di Mercatore e Hondius. Sia la vedova di Hondius, Colette, sia il figlio maggiore di Hondius, Jodocus II, morirono nel 1629; Janssonius unì quindi le forze con il figlio minore di Hondius, Henricus, per una revisione dell'Atlas Novus, a partire dal 1638.

“Janssonius's map is based primarily on Willem Blaeu's depiction of Japan on the map of China China Veteribus Sinarvm Regio nunc Incolis Tame dicta and incorporates the incomplete information on Hokkaidō (or 't Lant van Eso, as it appears on the map) gathered by the expedition of Maerten de Vries in 1643.

There is a major difference in the treatment of the island of Hokkaido from the Dudley chart, here shown unconnected with the Chinese mainland but with an incomplete western coastline. Introduced are Staten Eyl. and Compagnies Landt, thus originating an erroneous depiction of the Kuril Islands that would be recopied for decades.

Sometime around 1700 portions of the copperplates of the Atlas Minor were re-engraved and, in the case of the map of Japan, the title cartouche, compass rose and the mileage scale were completely redrawn, the two ships removed and the lettering of the large titles of Mare Japonicum and Oceanus Chinensis were re- designed. There was no change to the geography but Van der Aa added the place name I de Tanacxima (Tanegashima) below the island of Cikoko (Shikoku).

This map was issued in the final edition of the reduced-size atlases that Janssonius had introduced in 1628, and Mercator's name is no longer mentioned in the title. The early printings of this German language Atlas Minor contained the map but, by sometime in 1648, Janssonius made a running change of the map of Japan substituting a new depiction to replace the one that had suffered a major plate break. Janssonius republished the atlas, unchanged, in 1651.

There is some debate as to the year of publication of the small, 9-volume, atlas by Pieter van der Aa (1659-1733). As Van der Aa published his own 28-volume, Naaukeurige Versameling Der Gedenk-Waardigste Reysen Na Oost en West-Indien... in 1706, including an updated map of Japan, one can only speculate that he needed some maps in the interim while his own copperplates were being prepared; thus he used those from Janssonius's 1651 atlas, the plates of which he had somehow acquired. Koeman (vol. I) wrote that during the period between 1682 and 1733, "... an enormous quantity of printed matter was published by him" but dismissed his work as not being original and his maps as suffering from "...horrible deformation... as a result of inadequate map projection."

Whereas there are numerous examples of all the works that Van der Aa produced after 1706, the present author is only aware of a single complete example of L'Atlas Soulagé, in the library of the University of Leiden in the Netherlands. Some of the maps contained in volume nine have appeared, very occasionally, in the marketplace.“ (Hubbard "Japoniae Insulae – The Mapping of Japan", p. 188).

Acquaforte, in ottimo stato di conservazione. Dall’edizione tedesca dell’Atlas Minor, stampata ad Amsterdam nel 1648.

Bibliografia:

Hubbard "Japoniae Insulae – The Mapping of Japan", pp. 188-190, Koeman IIIB, 352:33.