The second ‘sea atlas’ part contains a group of 12 exeptionally rare charts by de Wit and Theunis Jacobsz. The seven de Wit charts, all dated 1654, are not only his earliest known forays into sea chart publication, but also some of his earliest work. The charts of the North Sea, the Baltic, northern Scandivania, and Spain seem to be based upon charts in Jacobsz’s 1644 ‘Zee-spiegel’ (Koeman IV, Jac 14: charts 2, 17, 25, 39, 50), although with some alterations. It is possible that the other charts of the Mediterranean and Ireland were also derived from those by Jacobsz, although we have no evidence for this. The five charts by Theunies Jacobsz (one of the west coast of Africa, and four of the western coasts of Amercia) are arguably the earliest regional sea charts of the east coast of America, and predate Colom’s sea atlas by several years. They were all produced towards the end of Jacbosz life ( Jacobsz died in 1650); in fact, Burden suggests that they might have been engraved and issued posthumously as they are not recorded in any of his atlases, nor would they appear in any atlas published by his successors until 1666 (Koeman Jac 1: charts 20, 23, 24, 27, 28). If this is the case then the present atlas, which can be dated to around 1654, would appear to contain the earliest issues of these five charts. The chart of the New Netherlands is of particular note as it is, according to Burden, “due the title of the first Dutch sea chart of New Netherlands”. All the charts and maps discussed above are rare. Koeman does not record any examples of the de Wit charts, nor does he record any of the Jacobsz charts until they appear in his successor’s sea atlas of 1666. We were only able to trace two recorded examples of this group of 12 sea charts: one in the National Maritime Museum, and the other in the Amserdam University Library. A full list of the maps and charts is available upon request.
49
The Gestetner Collection
Maritime Atlases & Voyages