JAN JANSSONIUS (1588-1664) - c. 1640 Hand Tinted Map of WEST AFRICA Coast, GUINEA


  • For your consideration is an outstanding historical document - a map of the West African coast, the area then referred to as Guinea
  • A Copperplate engraving, hand colored with aquatints 
  • Printed in Amsterdam by prominent geographer and publisher Jan Jansson (1588-1664)
  • Framed neatly in a giltwood frame, under glass

  • Displays a detailed map of the coastline of the region, crucial to African-European trade during the period. The map shows the African coast from Sierra Leone in the West to what is now the city of Port-Gentil on the Ogooue Delta, Gabon. 
  • The coastline is much more detailed than the interior, reflecting the state of geographic knowledge about the continent - a common feature on European maps of the period. Settlements are marked with small building symbols that increase in size according to the city’s population or notoriety. 
  • The large river running parallel to the top border is the Niger. An inscription explains its dark color and life-giving qualities in a dry region, like the Nile farther east in Egypt
  • Fauna is included in the map, with various animals throughout - crocodiles, lions, elephants, monkeys. 
  • In the ocean, two compass roses radiate rhumb lines and five ships are seen sailing the waters. 
  • At the lower left there are two young cherubs

  • At the lower right is the signature of the artist: AMSTELODAMI, SUMPTIBUS JOANNIS JANSSONY

  • Created by Dutch cartographer Jan Janssonius (known as Johann or Jan Jansson, Janszoon) (1588-1664) - one of the most renowned geographers and publishers of the 1600's. Born in Arnhem, Jan was first exposed to the trade via his father, who was also a bookseller and publisher. In 1612, Jan married the daughter of Jodocus Hondius, who was also a prominent mapmaker and seller. Jonssonius’ first maps date from 1616. In the 1630's, Janssonius worked with his brother-in-law, Henricus Hondius. Their most successful venture was to reissue the Mercator-Hondius atlas. Jodocus Hondius had acquired the plates to the Mercator atlas, first published in 1595, and added 36 additional maps. After Hondius died in 1612, Henricus took over publication; Janssonius joined the venture in 1633. Eventually, the atlas was renamed the Atlas Novus and then the Atlas Major, by which time it had expanded to eleven volumes. Janssonius is also well known for his volume of English county maps, published in 1646. He died in Amsterdam in 1664. His son-in-law, Johannes van Waesbergen, took over his business. Eventually, many of Janssonius’ plates were sold to Gerard Valck and Pieter Schenk, who added their names and continued to reissue the maps.

  • Furthermore: "The more distinctive decorative elements of the map also carry the most interesting story. A coat of arms and a dedicatory cartouche in the lower left explain that the map is dedicated to Dr. Nicholas Tulp (1593-1674), a member of the Amsterdam government and a celebrated anatomist. The dedication is not meant as a hollow compliment, but as an ode to one of the most famous doctors of the seventeenth century. Tulp is the same doctor seen in Rembrandt’s The Anatomy Lesson (1632). In the painting, Tulp is surrounded by his colleagues who are eagerly watching as Tulp demonstrates the inner workings of a man’s forearm. Rembrandt’s choice of an arm for the dissection is apt, as Tulp was particularly famous for his work on the anatomy of the arm. Specifically, Tulp had previously dissected the arm of an ape and found that its anatomy was almost the same as a human arm. The specimen was originally from Angola, just to the south of the area shown on this map. Tulp’s notes of the dissection are the earliest accurate description of an ape by a European, although specialists now believe he dissected a bonobo, not a chimpanzee as originally thought. As a further reference to Dr. Tulp, detailed illustrations of three apes sit atop and on the sides of the title cartouche. The central ape is flanked by two African figures, a man holding beads and a spear, and a woman with beads and a parrot. These items represent the wealth available in the region depicted.

  • "The maps were included in Hondius-Jansson atlases from 1635. Later, they became an important part of the famous Atlas Maior, the most beautiful atlas ever made and then the most expensive books ever produced. The maps of Africa made up roughly one half of volume 9 of the Atlas, sharing space with Spain and Portugal."

    References: Barry Lawrence Ruderman Antique Maps Inc. (#61281);
    Erlend de Groot and Peter van der Krogt (eds.), Atlas Blaeu-Van der Hem, vol V (Hes & De Graf, 2006); C. Koeman, Joan Blaeu and his Grand Atlas (Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, Amsterdam: 1970); Oscar I. Norwich with Jeffrey C. Stone and Pam Kolbe, Norwich’s Maps of Africa: An illustrated and annotated carto-bibliography, second edition (Terra Nova Press, 1997).

  • Measurements: Approx. 23.25" x 18.25" framed; 20.5" x 15" plate marks
  • Weighs 4 lb. 2 oz.

  • Condition: Very Good overall. Please see photos below. All original. Minor age discoloration, darkening around central fold. Ready for display.

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