PBA Galleries

Copper-engraved map of the world, hand-colored in outline and wash, surrounded by hand-colored engraved pictorial border, with inset hemispheres of north and south poles. 39.7x53.5 cm. (15¾x21").

Splendid map of the world, surrounded by small engravings of the wonders of the ancient world, planetary figures, etc. Shirley describes the map at some length: "The heirs of Jan Jansson, together with two Englishmen Moses Pitt and Steven Swart, joined in an ill-fated project to produce a twelve-volume atlas. There were two world maps: a twin-hemispherical one and one on Mercator's projection taken from a much older plate first engraved by Pieter van den Keere in 1608. Keere's plate (which had passed into Jan Jansson's hands in about 1620) retains its interesting border of the seven planets along the top, the seven wonders of the world along the bottom and the four elements and seasons at the sides. References to Keere's name have been erased and in the top left-hand part of the map (replacing the original cartouche describing America) appears a new dedication to the Bishop of Oxford with his arms... Geographically the map has been updated, including the re-engraving of California as an island and the insertion of Nova Hollandia (Australia) in part-outline. The two cartouches at the bottom of the map have beeen erased and the smaller maps in the polar circles redrawn." Only four volumes of the projected atlas, and the text for the fifth, were printed, on, as Shirley notes, "thick paper of quality...usually hand coloured with care. However the enterprise proved over-ambitious for the resources of the partners and for a time Moses Pitt was imprisoned for debt. Nothing is heard of him after 1691." This cessation of the project is undoubtedly what led to the scarcity of this lovely world map.