Maps of the 16th-17th centuries

[Didier Attaix]

Hi everybody,

I have a collection of old maps from Auvergne (the central area of France where I am living near Clermont-Ferrand. 

First one is the oldest map of Auvergne, 'Description du Pays d'Auuvergne', a wood cut of 1575. Starting from the left upper corner and in a clockwise direction with the arms of a) Catherine de Medicis, Queen of France, b) the bishop of Clermont (at this period) c) Gabriele Simoneo an Italian who designed the map, and d) with the arms of the city of Clermont. https://www.vintage-maps.com/en/antique-maps/europe/france/de-belleforest-france-auvergne-1575::11653

Second one is my favorite, another small woodcut of exceptional quality, printed in Antwerpen by Plantinus in 1585.

Third one is a coloured map of Gabriele Simoneo (see first one above) printed by Abraham Ortelius in 1579 in Antwerp. 

Fourth and fifth ones are very rare maps of France (no text on the back) printed in 1590 and 1594 by also Abraham Ortelius. 

Sixth one is the second map where the village of Orcival I am living is reproduced. First one is uggly. This very decorative map was published in 1645 by le Sieur du Bouchet. This map is filled with plenty of errors quite instructives.

Seven one and to end-up, a Cairo map by Braun & Hogenberg, dated of 1599.

I bought all these maps for nuts on eBay, except the sixth one bought at Drouot, Paris. 

Best,

Didier

 

[David Atherton]

My walls in my study are covered in old maps. You're a man after my own heart!

[JAZ Numismatics]

Beautiful collection!

[DonnaML]

Beautiful! Although I haven't added any for some years, I have been a collector of old maps (including maps of places where my family came from) ever since I was in my teens, back when the Argosy bookstore on 59th Street used to have bins of 19th century maps outside the store, selling for a dollar or two apiece. I will have to see if I have any photos I can post.

[DonnaML]

OK, I checked to see what I have, and here are photos of what are mostly some of the smaller maps and city views/plans in my collection, many falling into the "miniature maps" category, and almost all of them hand-colored. The handful of large maps I have on my walls are difficult to photograph through glass!

Map/Plan of Freiburg i. Breisgau, 1549, from Sebastian Münster (1488-1552), Cosmographia (Basel, ca. 1560 ed.) My maternal grandmother's family lived for centuries in the villages in the vicinity of Freiburg where the Jews of that city moved after they were expelled from Freiburg itself in 1424, and some returned 400+ years later when they were re-admitted following the Jewish Emancipation in Baden in the 1860s. My 2nd-great-grandparents are buried in the Jewish cemetery there. Freiburg belonged to the Habsburgs from 1368-1805, as part of Vorderösterreich.

Abraham Ortelius (1527-1598), maps of Tvrcicvm Imperivm and Tartaria (a representation of what was believed to be central and northern Asia with part of "Americae vel noui Orbis"), published in Antwerp in 1601 and 1593, respectively. The 1601 edition was edited by J. Vrients. 

Abraham Ortelius, maps of India Orient (with the Philippines, New Guinea, etc.) and Iapponia Insvla (the Japanese Islands), both published by J. Vrients in Antwerp in 1601.

Abraham Ortelius, map of Brandenburg Marcha, including Berlin, 1604

Petrus Bertius (1565-1629), maps of Pomerania and (East) Prussia, both 1612

My maternal grandfather and his ancestors lived in more than a dozen different towns and villages shown on these three maps, from at least as far back as the 1600s.

Alain Manesson Mallet (1630-1706), map of Syrie Moderne, 1685

Alain Manesson Mallet, 1685 German edition (pub. in Frankfurt) of Mallet's 1683 "Plan et Profil de la Ville de Rome Moderne."

Alain Manesson Mallet, 1685 German edition (pub. in Frankfurt) of Mallet's 1683 map of South America (Amerique Meridionale)

Alain Manesson Mallet, 1685 German edition (pub. in Frankfurt) of Mallet's 1683 map of Brazil (Bresil)

Alain Manesson Mallet, 1685 German edition (pub. in Frankfurt) of Mallet's 1683 view and plan of Mexico City

Alain Manesson Mallet, View of Mine in Potosi, Peru, 1683

(For anyone interested in Mallet, see this website with links to all of his maps and views: https://franpritchett.com/00generallinks/mallet/index.html#index )

Map of Holland & Utrecht, 1741

A 1744 French map entitled "Les Deux Cercles du Haut et Bas Rhin" (i.e., Alsace), although it's actually missing the southern portion of Haut Rhin, and instead appears to show Bas Rhin and Lorraine, as well as large areas of German lands to the north and east across the Rhine, including Swabia (i.e., Baden), Hesse, Westphalia, etc., as well as Luxemburg in the other direction.

A

A map of New Jersey, published by Thomas & Andrews, 1796 (listed in Wheat & Brun, "Maps & Charts Published in America Before 1800, # 417).

Finally, a large old map of New York City that I have on my wall, entitled Colton's New York City, Brooklyn, Jersey City, Hoboken, etc. It bears the date 1865, but I suspect that it actually was published around 1870 or the early 1870s, because it shows Central Park as being more complete than I believe it was in 1865. It's photographed through glass and was too large to photograph close up, which is why the details are blurred.

 

Edited October 5, 2024 by DonnaML

[CPK]

Stunning collections of old maps @Didier Attaix and @DonnaML!

[shanxi]

8 hours ago, DonnaML said:

Map/Plan of Freiburg i. Breisgau

Some more from Freiburg

Matthaeus Merian 1644

 

Daniel Meisner and Eberhard Kieser (1623)

 

1693

 

Nicolas de Fer. 1693

 

J. Poppel und K. Rosee, 1840

 

 

Edited October 5, 2024 by shanxi

[DonnaML]

12 hours ago, shanxi said:

Some more from Freiburg

Matthaeus Merian 1644

 

Daniel Meisner and Eberhard Kieser (1623)

 

1693

 

Nicolas de Fer. 1693

 

J. Poppel und K. Rosee, 1840

 

 

A wonderful collection for Freiburg, @shanxi! I see that you have the plan of Freiburg by Matthäus Merian the Elder. I have his view and plan of Sultzburg (Sulzburg) in Baden (bei Freiburg im Breisgau) from 1643. The village of Sulzburg, ca. 27 km. south of Freiburg, is where my maternal grandmother was born. She was the 7th generation of her family to live in Sulzburg, in two different houses (both of which still stand on the main street), between August 1724 (the date of the original house purchase contract signed by my 6th-great-grandfather; I have a copy from the archive in Karlsruhe and had someone translate it) and the deportation of the Jews of Baden to Camp de Gurs in the Pyrenees in Vichy France on 22 Oct. 1940. My mother, the 8th generation, was born in Berlin in 1923 but spent her summers with her grandparents in Sulzburg. Here is my copy of the Merian view & plan:

Both houses where my family lived have been dated to the 1560s by dendrochronology, and were originally part of the Schloss (castle) of the Margraves of Baden-Durlach (see "B" on the plan), who maintained their residence in Sulzburg in the 16th century. The one where my grandmother was born supposedly has the remnants of a Roman wall in the back, although, having seen it, I remain a bit skeptical. A photo of the house from the 1910s or 1920s; that's almost certainly my great-grandfather (who died in Camp de Noé in Haute Garonne in March 1941 at the age of 86) standing in an upper window:

The "Iudenkirchof" ("P" on the far right of the plan) -- the 16th century Jewish graveyard -- no longer exists, although fragments of old tombstones have been found beneath the ground. The "modern" Jewish cemetery of Sulzburg, founded ca. 1720, is nearby; at least 15 of my direct ancestors are buried there, dating back to 1731. The tombstone of my 6th-great-grandfather from 1766:

 

 

Edited October 5, 2024 by DonnaML

[shanxi]

@DonnaML The plan of Sulzburg is interesting. One would not expect such strong fortifications for such a small town.

Do you know this link?

https://www.alemannia-judaica.de/sulzburg_texte.htm

As far as I know there might be some of your ancestors mentioned.

 

Edited October 6, 2024 by shanxi

[DonnaML]

6 hours ago, shanxi said:

@DonnaML The plan of Sulzburg is interesting. One would not expect such strong fortifications for such a small town.

Do you know this link?

https://www.alemannia-judaica.de/sulzburg_texte.htm

As far as I know there might be some of your ancestors mentioned.

 

Thank you, @shanxi. I'm familiar with the website, but there have been quite a few more texts added to it since the last time I looked. However, most are about rabbis, cantors, and religious teachers, and I'm afraid that most of my ancestors in Sulzburg were mere cow dealers! A very common occupation for rural Jewish people in the region. Although the Moses Bloch mentioned in a couple of the articles, including the one marking his 75th birthday, was my great-grandfather discussed in my post.

[Didier Attaix]

Hi everybody,

I was not expecting to interest so many people by old maps. Many thanks for all comments. 

For David Atherton, one wall of my office is covered with my maps, engravings and historical documents, see pictures below.

Best,

Didier

[DonnaML]

I framed and put up on a wall one more hand-colored "city view" by Alain Manesson Mallet, this one of Havana, Cuba and its harbor, from the original French edition of his Description de l'Univers, Tome 5 (Paris, 1683) at p. 315:

The visible portion is approximately 4.5" x 7.5".

Here is the title page of the volume containing the view of Havana, found on Gallica:

And here is the description of Havana at p. 314 (the reverse of the page with the view of Havana is p. 316, the description of Jamaica):

Until I found this description, I was a bit puzzled as to what historical event the city view was supposed to show: it appears to depict an ongoing naval battle in the harbor, accompanied by a bombardment of Havana itself, and I couldn't find any online reference to such a battle during this period. The Anglo-Spanish War of 1654-1660, under Cromwell, seems to have involved an unsuccessful English attack on Santo Domingo and the capture of Jamaica, but not any attack on Cuba. So I think the scene depicted is probably the one that took place in 1638, as described in the last paragraph on this page, translated from French as follows:

"In the year 1638, a French Shipowner came to anchor in front of this City, and proposed to the Inhabitants to redeem themselves from the fire: They asked for time to pay the ransom: The French granted it to them, and relying on it, were attacked unprepared by the Spaniards, who killed four of them, one of whom was the Captain's nephew: but the latter having vigorously repulsed them, set fire to the City to avenge himself for their perfidy, and for the death of his nephew;  A Spaniard who saw the Church ready to burn, ventured to come to him, and begged him to save it from the shadow; but he told him angrily that a breach of word well deserved this punishment, and that in any case a Church was very useless to people who had no faith, and he pillaged the City, from which he became very rich."