JANSSON, JAN

1588 - 1664

Jan Jansson was born in Arnhem where his father was a bookseller and publisher. In 1612 he married Elizabeth Hondius, daughter of the cartographer and publisher, Jodocus Hondius, and settled in Amsterdam. He became a book publisher and produced a large quantity of maps in rivalry with the great Dutch map publishing family of Blaeu.

From about 1630 to 1638 he was in partnership with his brother in law, Henricus Hondius issuing further editions of the Mercator / Hondius atlases to which his name was added. On the death of Henricus he took over the business and along with many new publications he expanded the publishing of the atlas to an 11.volume Atlas Major.

The heirs of Jansson continued publishing until the end of the seventeenth century.

Tooley’s Dictionary of Mapmakers

Atlantes Neerlandici Dr Ir. C. Koeman

Antique Maps Moreland and Bannister

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KITCHIN, THOMAS

1718 - 1784

The Englishman Thomas Kitchin (1718 - 1784) was an engraver, publisher and hydrographer to the King of England. He worked in London in the middle of the eighteenth century.

Tooley’s Dictionary of Mapmakers R.V.Tooley 1979

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LAURIE, ROBERT & James Whittle

c.1755 - 1836

The English publishers Laurie and Whittle started their business in London in about 1790. They took over the stock of Robert Sayer’s publishing house in 1792-93. The company’s prolific output covered maritime atlases and charts as well as general atlases and sheet maps. Many of the publications were based on the works of the British geographers and publishers, Kitchin, Jeffreys, Faden and Sayer and Bennett.

Antique Maps Moreland and Bannister

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MALLET, ALLAIN MANESSON

1630 - 1706

Allain Manesson Mallet was a French engineer who travelled widely. In Paris in1683, he published a five volume book entitled, Description de L’Univers. The work was extesively illustrated with nearly 700 engravings, including miniature maps, charts , plans and views. Miniature Antique Maps Geoffrey King

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Munster, Sebastian

1489 - 1552

Sebastian Munster  was a professor of Hebrew at Basle University and an eminent hebraist, mathematician and geographer. He produced his own edition of Ptolemy's Geographia in 1540, adding a number of significantly new maps to the modern section of the work. There were further editions of the Geographia in 1541, 1542, 1545 and 1552. These were all printed at Basle with Latin text. His two major works the Geographia and the Cosmographia continued to be published by his step-son, Heinrich Petri, long after Muster's death of the plague in 1552. Later editions of Munster's Cosmographia included updated maps.

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NIEUHOFF, JAN

1618 - 1672

The Dutchman Jan Nieuhoff accompanied the Dutch mission to China from Jakarta in 1655. Nieuhoff provided an account of the embassy which was published by Van Meurs’ in Amsterdam in 1665. It contained a map and some of the earliest illustrations to appear in Europe of the Chinese hinterland and interior and of China and its Cities. It was the most important European source of information about China in the seventeenth century. His work proved exceptionally popular, being translated into French, German and English in the following years.

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ORTELIUS, ABRAHAM

1527 - 1598

Abraham Ortelius was born in Antwerp on April 4th 1527. He studied Greek, Latin and mathematics. At the age of 19 he had become a colourist of old maps and he developed quite a talent for this art. This was a time when most map colouring was done by children. As he developed into a book and map dealer, cartographer and publisher, his sister Anne joined him and took over the colouring which she continued to do for the rest of her life.

He became a book, print and map dealer and attended the Frankfurt book fair. It was at this book fair in 1554 that he met Gerard Mercator. A lasting friendship developed. He traveled extensively around Europe and as a result he learnt many languages. In 1564 he published a world map in eight sheets of which only one copy is known to have survived.

In 1570 he produced his magnificent atlas Theatrum Orbis Terrarum or Atlas of the Whole World. The Theatrum was the first uniformly sized, systematic collection of maps and therefore the first atlas, although the term atlas itself was not used until twenty years later by Mercator. Most of the maps in the Threatrum were elegantly engraved by Hans Hogenburgh and the publication was so successful that it was published in numerous editions in different languages. New editions included addenda issued from time to time incorporating the latest contemporary knowledge and discoveries. It grew from 53 maps to 166 maps. Ortelius listed his sources of information and in the first edition acknowledgement was made to eighty seven different cartographers.

Abraham Ortelius became the Royal Cartographer to Philip II King of Spain. Philip sent him a golden necklace worth one thousand ducats.

He died on the 28th of June 1598 at the age of 71.

Ortelius Atlas Maps Marcel P.R. van den Broeke
Antique Maps Moreland and Bannister

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ROBERT DE VAUGONDY

1688 - 1766

The Robert de Vaugondy family were French cartographers who were descendents from Nicolas Sanson. Sanson was regarded by many as the founder of the great age of French cartography in the second half of the seventeenth century. Gilles Robert de Vaugondy inherited much of Sanson’s cartographic material which he and his son Didier revised and corrected with the addition of many new place names. The elder Robert de Vaugondy, Giles, is also know as Le Sieur or Monsieur Robert.

One of the great atlases that the Robert de Vaugondys’ produced was the Atlas Universal of 1757 containing over 100 splendidly engraved maps. Some of these maps were beautifully decorated with magnificent rococo cartouche.

Antique Map Moreland and Bannister

Bel et Utile. The Work of the Robert de Vaugondy Family of Mapmakers. 1992
Mary Sponberg Pedley

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ROSACCIO, GIUSEPPE

c.1530 - 1620

The Italian cosmographer, Dr Guiseppe Rosaccio was most active towards the end of the sixteenth and the beginning of the seventeenth century. He produced a number of small books from 1592 onwards, which were illustrated with some unusual woodcut maps.

Ronald Vere Tooley Tooleys Dictionary of Mapmakers 1979.

Geoffrey King Miniature Antique Maps 1996.

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