ASIAN CONTINENT 1720 JOHANN BAPTIST HOMANN ANTIQUE ORIGINAL COPPER ENGRAVED MAP

Asiae Recentissima Delineatio Qua Status et Imperia Totius Orientis unacum Orientalibus Indiis Authore Ioh. Bapt. Homanno Noriberg.

Description: Striking and highly detailed fine example of Homann's first copper engraved map of Asia, extending from the Mediterranean to the Pacific. Includes the northern tip of Australia (Nova Hollandia) Carpentaria, Nova Britannia and the Marianas. Hokkaido is identified as Terra Yedso and the fictional Compagnie Land, to the northeast of Japan.
 
An accompanying note acknowledges Scherer as the source, although the orientation of Yedso and Companies Land appears to be based on the Delisle model. A huge lake appears in Tibet and is named the legendary Chiamay. A second lake is shown in the position usually occupied by Lake Chiamay, but here it is named L. Cananor Cunabete.
 
This edition of the map includes an ornate second cartouche in the upper right corner of the map, featuring a procession. In later editions, the cartouche is removed and the coastal features above Japan along the NE Coast of Asia are significantly revised. There are also small changes in the mapping of Carpentaria.
 
Dampier's passage north of Carpentaria is noted, along with Arnham's Land and Vay van Diemen on the continent of Nova Hollandia. Nova Britannia appears as having been detected by William Dampier in 1700. Several place names appear in Carpentaria. Interesting projections of Japan and Corea, which appears as a long thin peninsula. Some Incognita (unknown) lands still appear in the Arctic Circle.

Date: 1720 ( undated )

Dimension: Paper size approx.: cm 65,1 x 55,2

Condition: Very strong and dark impression on very strong paper. Paper with chains and wiremark. Map old original colored. Wide margins. Corners partially missed. Small foxing and browning. Small holes and tears restored. Map washed and restored. Conditions are as you can see in the images.

Mapmaker: Johann Baptist Homann (March 20, 1664 - July 1, 1724) was the most prominent and prolific map publisher of the 18th century. Homann was born in Oberkammlach, a small town near Kammlach, Bavaria, Germany. As a young man Homann studied in a Jesuit school and nursed ambitions of becoming a Dominican priest before converting to Protestantism in 1687. Following his conversion, Homann moved to Nuremberg and found employment as a notary. Around 1693 Homan briefly relocated to Vienna, where he lived and studied printing and copper plate engraving until 1695. Afterwards he returned to Nuremberg where, in 1702, he founded the commercial publishing firm that would bear his name. In the next five years Homann produced hundreds of maps and developed a distinctive style characterized by heavy detailed engraving, elaborate allegorical cartouche work, and vivid hand color. The Homann firm, due to the lower cost of printing in Germany, was able to undercut the dominant French and Dutch publishing houses while matching the diversity and quality of their output. By 1715 Homann's rising star caught the attention of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles the VI, who appointed him Imperial Cartographer. In the same year he was also appointed a member of the Royal Academy of Sciences in Berlin. Homann's prestigious title came with a number of important advantages including access to the most up to date cartographic information as well as the "Privilege". The Privilege was a type of early copyright offered to a few individuals by the Holy Roman Emperor. Though not as sophisticated as modern copyright legislation, the Privilege did offer a kind of limited protection for several years. Most all J. B. Homann maps printed between 1715 and 1730 bear the inscription "Cum Priviligio" or some variation. Following Homann's death in 1726, the management of the firm passed to his son Johann Christoph Homann (1703 - 1730). J. C. Homann, perhaps realizing that he would not long survive his father, stipulated in his will that the company would be inherited by his two head managers, Johann Georg Ebersberger and Johann Michael Franz, and that it would publish only under the name Homann Heirs. This designation, in various forms (Homannsche Heirs, Heritiers de Homann, Lat Homannianos Herod, Homannschen Erben, etc..) appears on maps from about 1731 onwards. The firm continued to publish maps in ever diminishing quantities until the death of its last owner, Christoph Franz Fembo in 1848.