America Septentrionalis

La prima carta del solo Nord America mai pubblicata in un atlante olandese.

Nel 1604, Jodocus Hondius (1563-1612) - probabilmente tramite Cornelis Claesz - acquistò le matrici in rame dell'Atlas sive cosmographicae meditationes de fabrica mundi di Gerard Mercator all’asta. Aggiunse circa 40 mappe, comprese nuove mappe dei continenti e importanti mappe regionali delle Americhe, prima di pubblicare una nuova edizione dell’opera, nel 1606, in concorrenza con il Theatrum Orbis Terrarum di Ortelius. Poiché molte delle mappe erano più aggiornate, la raccolta di Mercator & Hondius sostituì effettivamente il Theatrum di Ortelius.  L’atlante del 1606 include tutte le 107 mappe dell’edizione del 1595, oltre a 37 nuove mappe, abilmente incise dallo stesso Hondius.

La seconda edizione della raccolta seguì già nel 1607/08, mentre la prima edizione in un’altra lingua, il francese, fu messa sul mercato nel 1609. Apparentemente questa fu considerata come la terza edizione, perché nel 1611 apparve l'Editio Quarta, con un totale di 150 mappe. Dopo la morte di Jodocus Hondius (1612) la sua vedova e i suoi figli continuarono la stampa dell’atlante. Jodocus Junior ( o Jodocus II, 1594-1629) produsse diverse ristampe tra il 1613 e il 1619, sempre con le stesse 150 mappe; nel 1619 furono invece aggiunte sei nuove mappe. Dopo il 1620 la pubblicazione venne curata da Hendrick (Henricus) Hondius (1597-1651), il secondo figlio di Jodocus senior. Varie edizioni apparvero, nel 1623, 1628 e 1630. Hendrick fu il primo ad apportare dei veri cambiamenti: nell’edizione del 1628 firmò alcune mappe di Mercatore con il proprio nome. Nel 1630, quando probabilmente stava già collaborando con suo cognato Johannes Janssonius, aggiunse nove nuove carte.

La prima edizione della mappa, firmata da Hendrick Hondius è databile al 1636/39; successivamente la lastra, senza alcuna modifica, venne ristampata da Janssonius, Visscher ed Allard.
Nel 1694 Petrus Schenk si aggiudica in un'asta pubblica tutte le lastre dell'Atlas Major di Janssonius e comincia subito a pubblicare questa mappa con il suo indirizzo: Amstelodami, Penes Gerardum Valck et Petrus Schenk.

Dopo il 1700, Schenk aggiorna la mappa sulla base della più avanzata geografia di Guillaume de L'Isle. Si tratta del terzo stato della carta di Hondius, con l'imprint di Valck e Schenk.

“Henricus Hondius' beautifully engraved map of North America had greater influence than any other to date in perpetuating the theory of California as an island. This was because it was disseminated through the medium of his powerful Dutch publishing house. None of the earlier California as an island maps had reached such a wide audience. The 1630s were a decade of constant development in the houses of Blaeu and Hondius. It is interesting to note that Blaeu never produced a single sheet map of North America; both Willem and Joan relied upon that of the whole continent first produced in 1617, throughout their publishing history. During this decade Joannes Janssonius became an active partner of Hondius, and although this map bears no imprint it is assigned to the latter on the basis that at the same time a map of South America appeared displaying his name.

Cartographically this map is a careful composition of many different sources and illustrates well the current state of knowledge. The depiction and nomenclature of the west, along with that of the insular California, derive directly from the Henry Briggs The North Part of AMERICA, 1625. A legend placed strategically over the north-west coastline offers the opportunity to discontinue a coastline least understood. An unnamed lake still feeds a Rio del Norto flowing incorrectly south-west into what should be the headwaters of the Gulf of California. On the east bank of this river is Real de Nueua Mexico, or Santa Fe. The Gulf of Mexico and the Florida peninsula originate from the Hessel Gerritsz chart of c.1631.

The east coast, however, is harder to define; the south-east appears to be quite generic in form. It is the area north of here that does not appear to be from a particular source. The Chesapeake Bay area is defined in about as much detail as the scale and style of the map will allow, lames Towne being clearly identified. NOVUM BELGIUM is unlike any other before it, the area between the Zuitt Reuier (Delaware River) and the Noort R (Hudson River) being greatly elongated on a north-east to south-west axis. New Amsterdam is curiously not designated although Fort Orange is present. For New England just a select few names have been chosen from John Smith's map of the area, 1616. The Gulf of St. Lawrence appears to follow de Laet more than Champlain. The latter is used to depict a single great lake; however, its name, Lac des Iroquois, is borrowed from one nearby. Interestingly the author chose not use Champlain's more recent 1632 map but the earlier 1612 CARTE GEOGRAPHIQVE DE LA NOVVELLE FRANSE. To avoid unknown territory he does not venture the river system further west, unlike Champlain. Along the Atlantic coast of Labrador we find for the first time much Dutch nomenclature, reflecting their increased whaling activities in these waters. Hudson Bay is clearly derived from Briggs, 1625, except for the west coast where he introduces the cartography of Thomas James, 1633. The addition of a fox here could be seen as a veiled reference to Luke Foxe, whose own map of the previous year bears just such an animal.

The map was one of many introduced in the late 1630s to be included in the rapidly developing Atlas Novus. After the death of Janssonius in 1664 the business was left to a number of different parties, and it could not be divided in such a way that ensured the continued production of the various atlases. During this period some of the maps were often sold to order; such as for the atlases of Nicolaas Visscher and Carol Allard. This map appears in such atlases unchanged until c.1694. In that year Petrus Schenk acquired all of the Atlas Major plates at public auction from the heirs of Jansson van Waesberge, and began issuing the map with his own imprint. This last state is uncommon. Shortly after 1700 he replaced the map with a new one based upon the more advanced geography of Guillaume de L'Isle.” (Burden " The Mapping of North America", p. 309).

Esemplare con bella coloritura coeva con alcuni ritocchi, in ottimo stato di conservazione.

Bibliografia:

Burden "The Mapping of North America", pp. 309-311, n. 245.