Gallia
[Gaul]
Amsterdam: CLOPPENBURG, Johannes, 1630/36
Size (neatline): 25.8 x 18.9 cm / 10.2 x 7.4 in
Size (sheet): 28.9 x 21.7 cm / 11.4 x 8.5 in
Technique: Copper engraving
Colour: Hand coloured
Verso: French text
Condition: Very good
A scarce and elegant map of France published by Cloppenburg
Description
This beautiful map of Gaul derives from Johannes Cloppenburg’s enlarged-format edition of Gerard Mercator / Jodocus Hondius II’ Atlas Minor. It was published in either 1630 or 1636, in one of the two French Cloppenburg editions.
Gaul was an ancient region in Western Europe, controlled for a long time by the Romans, before falling to the Franks, and eventually morphing into the Kingdom of France, though then occupying a smaller territory.
The map shows Gaul extending across present-day France, Belgium, and Luxembourg, as well as parts of the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy. It features pictorial representation of relief, towns, and cities. Countless placenames are provided, but curiously, and in difference to other maps of Gaul, these are contemporary, not ancient. The seas are delicately engraved using parallel hatching.
The title cartouche at bottom left also holds a distance scale.
Most likely engraved by Pieter van den Keere.
French text on verso.
A rare and meticulously crafted map showing much of Western Europe in the early 17th century.
Publication
Gerardi Mercatoris Atlas sive cosmographicae meditationes de fabrica mundi et fabricati figura [1630 or 1636]
Note: Image shows pagination annotation (125) in top right corner.
Condition
Very good.
Printed on an intact sheet. Beautiful colouring throughout. Slightly weak impression along right and top right latitude and longitude scales. A few faint stains, contained to blank margins.
Item #: 02914
US $300.00