Very rare chart of Southeast Asia, aiding navigation to the Spice Islands during monsoon

Description

This sea chart is an extended version of a chart by Theodore de Bry, first published in Part XI of his Les grands voyages, in Oppenheim (Latin edition) and Frankfurt on the Main (German edition) in 1619. The work covers the circumnavigations of Joris van Spilbergen from 1614 to 1617, and of Jacob Le Maire and Willem Cornelisz Schouten from 1615 to 1617.

De Bry’s chart does not include the right third section of the present chart, which shows an inset of Buton Island and the Strait of Buton, southwest of Celebes/Sulawesi, at top right of the chart and New Guinea at bottom right. The update, by an anonymous cartographer or artist, occurred no later than 1621, when the current chart appeared in Miroir Oost et West-Indical – the first and only French edition of Van Spilbergen and Le Maire's The East and West Indian Mirror – as identified by the pagination annotation (No. 19) at top right. This edition was published by Jan Jansson in Amsterdam.

The extension might have been completed already in 1619, for the Dutch and/or Latin editions of The East and West Indian Mirror, published by Nicolaes van Geelkercken in Leiden. However, we were not able to verify this.

The same version of the chart then appeared in 1646 in Isaac Commelin’s Begin ende voortgangh van de Vereenighde Nederlantsche Geoctroyeerde Oost-Indische Compagnie (Beginning and progress of the United Netherlands’ Chartered East India Company), a compilation of Dutch exploratory voyages, published by Jan Jansson in Amsterdam.

In 1725, Commelin’s work was published in French by Réne Augustin Constantin de Renneville, however, by that point in time the chart appears to have been newly engraved, as evident in typeface differences as well as a different pagination annotation. Thus, the present example is likely from 1621 or 1646, perhaps even from as early as 1619.

Geographically, the chart provides a detailed depiction of all Southeast Asia, from present-day Myanmar in the northwest to New Guinea in the southeast. Borneo and Sulawesi appear with conjectured eastern coastlines, while for Java it is the southern coast. Relief and vegetation are shown pictorially, and settlements are identified through building symbols. There is extensive provision of placenames, particularly along the coastlines. Attributes of relevance to maritime navigation include two compass roses, a network of rhumb lines, shoal depiction, and soundings (in inset only).

A curious feature of the chart is the inset showing Buton Island and the Strait of Buton. Parry provides an explanation as to why these are of high relevance by citing sailing instructions from a 1710 Samuel Thornton sea atlas. According to these, during the time of the northeast monsoon, sailing through the Strait of Buton promised a safer and faster voyage to the Spice Islands than sailing up the east coast of Buton Island, where shoals and currents posed the risk of shipwreck.

The chart is adorned with two sea monsters at the bottom.

A fabulous and very scarce sea chart showing a safe way to the Moluccas.

Publication

Miroir Oost et West-Indical [1621]

[or]

Begin ende voortgangh van de Vereenighde Nederlantsche Geoctroyeerde Oost-Indische Compagnie [1646]

Note: Image shows pagination annotation in top right corner (No. 19).

Condition

Good.

A sharp impression on a clean sheet of watermarked paper. Issued folding, now flattened. Narrow margins. On verso, repairs with archival tape to chips and fraying along edges as well as to a tear at upper left, extending about 5 cm / 2 inches into image.

Reference

Parry, D. E. (2005). The Cartography of the East Indian Islands, pp. 93-95. Countrywide Editions.

Item #: 02957

US $1,800.00

other currencies