Antique map of Luxemburg.
A coloured copper engraving from: Atlas Minor Sive Geographia Compendosia.
Claes Jansz. Visscher (1587-1652) Nicolaes Visscher (son) (1618-79) Nicolaes Visscher II (grandson) (1649-1702)
Are the 3 members of the Visscher family That for nearly a Century were important art dealers and map publishers in Amsterdam. The founder , C. J. Visscher, May have learned the art of mapmaking from Pieter van den Keere and Jodocus Hondius. . From about 1620 he designed a number of individual maps, including one of the British Isles, but his first atlas consisted of maps printed from plates bought from van den Keere and issued as they stood with some additions of his own, including historical scenes of battles and sieges for which he had a high reputation. After Visscher's death his son and grandson issued a considerable number of atlases, constantly revised and brought up to date. The widow of Nicholaes Visscher II carried on the business until it finally passed into the hands of Pieter Schenk. Some maps bear the Latinized form of the family name: Piscator.

Antique map of Belgium Flanders
A coloured copper-engraving by De Wit published by Covens en Mortier Amsterdam, ca 1730. Size 50 x 60 cm.
Frederick de Wit [1629-1706 was known as a map publisher, engraver and seller. He worked in Amsterdam from the Kalverstraat (‘bij den Dam inde dry Crabben) to 1654 and then from ‘in de Witte paskaert from 1655 to 1706. He produced a prodogious amount of cartographic material including seperate terrestial maps and sea charts, sea and terrestial atlases, wall maps, and town views. Many of his maps were superbly colored by master Dutch colorists of his day such as Dirck van Santen.
De Wit also acquired numerous copperplates from those auctioned by the Blaeu and Janssonius publishing houses sometime after 1674 and republished these works, often with his imprint added. On his death in 1706, The bussines was continued for a time by his widow Maria untill 1709. In 1710, the De Wit plates were sold to Mortier, Van der Aa, and Renard
Pieter Mortier(1661-1711) was a map publisher and mapseller of Amsterdam, who worked in connection with Jaillot, publishing atlases, maps and charts, made by Sanson, de Fer and De Wit amoungst others. Pieter was probably trained in the bookselling business in Paris and his brother David spent many years in England; in fact, he acquired British nationality and died there in about 1728.
After Mortier's death in 1711 his widow continued the bussiness until their son, Cornelis, was old enough to take over the business and in 1721 went in partnership with Jean Covens. They continued to publish as Covens and Mortier , mainly reprints of great maps.

Antique map of Belgium.Leuven.
A coloured copper-engraving. Size 40,5 x 52 cm.
Joan Blaeu (1599-1673) was the eldest son of Willem Janszoon Blaeu (1571-1638), and was probably born in Alkmaar in the province of Noord-Holland in the final years of the 16th century. He was brought up in Amsterdam, and studied law at the University of Leiden before going into partnership with his father in the 1630s. Although his father Willem had cartographic interests, having studied under the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe and having manufactured globes and instruments, his primary business was as a printer. It was under the control of Joan that the Blaeu printing press achieved lasting fame by moving towards the printing of maps and expanding to become the largest printing press in Europe in the 17th century.
In 1636 he publihed his first work a volume Atlas Novus
He became chief cartographer to the Dutch East India Company from 1638, and from 1651 to 1672 he served on the Amsterdam City Council without a break, holding several public offices. He also invested in Dutch colonial interests in North America.
Joan Blaeu’s main work was Theatrum Orbis Terrarum (or Atlas Maior as it had became known.) Atlas had expanded to between 9 and 12 volumes, depending on the language. With over 3,000 text pages and approximately 600 maps, it was the most expensive book you could buy in the later 17th century.
In February 1672 a fire broke out in the main printing press at Gravenstraat. There are conflicting accounts of the episode, but it is clear that the damage was enormous, destroying not only thousands of paper sheets and printed maps, but also copper plates and metal for type, both of which melted in the heat. Although his other press at Bloemgracht continued, the loss for Joan Blaeu must have been considerable. The situation was made worse by Blaeu's fall from political office under the new regime of William III (of Orange) later in the year. Many of his surviving copper plates were sold, particularly to Pieter Mortier and Frederick de Wit. In December 1673, Joan Blaeu died, leaving his 22-year-old son Joan Blaeu II in control of the company. The Blaeu press continued to publish maps and other works, but its heyday was over, and the firm ceased operations in the early years of the 18th century. A great era in cartographic history was over.
Badly damaged

Antique map of Belgium Brabant.
A coloured copper-engraving. Size. 41,5×52,3 cm.
Willem Janszoon or Willem Jansz. Blaeu (1571-1638), as he later called himself, and as he is more commonly known was one of the most noted Dutch cartographers and map publishers of the seventeenth Century. R.V. Tooley stated that Blaeu’s maps are ‘esteemed by collectors for their decorative quality, historical importance, and as the highest expression of Dutch cartographic art during the period of its supremacy’(Tooley 1969:28). After preparation as a pupil of the great Danish astronomer, Tycho Brahe, Blaeu initially concentrated on globemaking and seperately published maps. From 1608, he dominated the market for sea atlases and in 1630 produced his terrestial atlas. These atlases were continued by his sons, culminating in the great Atlas Maior of 1662 in 11 volumes with subsequent editions
Damaged, with small holes

Antique map of Belgium.
A coloured copper-engraving
Pieter Mortier(1661-1711) was a map publisher and mapseller of Amsterdam, who worked in connection with Jaillot, publishing atlases, maps and charts, made by Sanson, de Fer and De Wit amoungst others. Pieter was probably trained in the bookselling business in Paris and his brother David spent many years in England; in fact, he acquired British nationality and died there in about 1728.
After Mortier's death in 1711 his widow continued the bussiness until their son, Cornelis, was old enough to take over the business and in 1721 went in partnership with Jean Covens. They continued to publish as Covens and Mortier , mainly reprints of great maps.

Antique map of Luxemburg - Trier
A coloured copper-engraving. Size: 36,5×47 cm.
Gerardus Mercator (1512-1594) was a Flemish cartographer. He was born Gheert Cremer (or Gerard de Cremere) in Rupelmonde. "Mercator" is the Latinized form of his name. It means "merchant". He was educated in’s-Hertogenbosch and at theUniversity of Leuven. Despite his fame as a cartographer, Mercator's main source of income came through his craftmanship of mathematical instruments. He returned to Leuven and worked with Gemma Frisius and Gaspar Myrica. They worked together from 1535 to 1536 to construct a terrestrial globe although the role of Mercator in the project was not primarily as a cartographer, but as a highly skilled engraver of brass plates. Mercator's own independent map-making only began when he produced a map of Palestine in 1537, and this was followed by another map of the world (1538) and a map of Flanders (1540). During this period he learned Italic script since it was the most suitable type of script for copper engraving of maps. For nearly sixty years, during the most important and exciting period in the story of modern map making, Gerard Mercator was the supreme cartographer. Mercator was charged with heresy in 1544 due to his sympathy for Protestant beliefs and suspicions about his frequent travels. He was in prison for seven months before the charges were dropped, possibly because of intervention from the university authorities.
In 1552, he moved toDuisburg. He opened a cartographic workshop, where he completed a six-panel map of Europe in 1554. He also worked as a surveyor for the city. His motives for moving to Duisburg are not clear. Mercator might have left the Netherlands for religious reasons or because he was informed about the plans to found a university. He taught mathematics at the academic college of Duisburg. After producing several maps he was appointed Court Cosmographer to Wilhelm, Duke of Jülich-Cleves-Berg in 1564. He constructed a new chart and first used it in 1569; it had parallel lines of longitude to aid navigation by sea, as compass courses could be marked as straight lines.
He took the word atlas to describe a collection of maps, and encouraged Abraham Ortelius to compile the first modern world atlas,Theatrum Orbis Terrarum in 1570. He produced his own atlas in a number of parts, the first of which was published in 1578 and consisted of corrected versions of the maps of Ptolemy (though introducing a number of new errors). His work changed land surveying and his researches and calculations led him to break away from Ptolemy's conception of the size and outline of the Continents, drastically reducing the longitudinal length of Europe and Asia and altering the shape of the Old World as visualized in the early sixteenth century.
Maps of France Germany and the Netherlands were added in 1585 and of the Balkans and Greece in 1588, further maps were published in 1595 His later life was devoted to the preparation of his 3-volume collection of maps to which, for the first time, the word 'Atlas' was applied. The word was chosen, he wrote, 'to honour the Titan, Atlas, King of Mauritania, a learned philosopher, mathematician, and astronomer'. The first two parts of the Atlas were published in 1585 and 1589 and the third, with the first two making a complete edition, in 1595 the year after Mercator’s death. After moving to Duisburg Mercator never left the city and died there a respected and wealthy citizen .After his death by his son Rumold Mercator. After a second complete edition in 1602, the map plates were bought in 1604 by Jodocus Hondius who, with his sons, Jodocus II and Henricus, published enlarged editions, which dominated the map market for the following twenty to thirty years

Antique map of Luxembourg.
A coloured copper-engraving. Size ca 50x37 cm
Jodocus Hondius (1563-1612)sometimes called Jodocus Hondius the Elder ( to distinguish him from his son Henricus Hondius (son) 1587-1638) , was a Flemish artist, engraver and cartographer He is best known for his early maps of the New World and Europe He helped establish Amsterdam as the center of cartography in Europe in the 17th century.
Hondius grew up in Ghent. In his early years he established himself as an engraver, instrument maker and globe maker. In 1584 he moved to London to escape religious difficulties in Flanders. In the London period he came into contact with the leading scientists and geographers of the day and engraved maps in The Mariner's Mirrour, the English edition of Waghenaer's Sea Atlas, as well as others with Pieter van den Keere, his brother-in-law. No doubt his temporary exile in London stood him in good stead, earning him an international reputation.
In 1593 he moved to Amsterdam, where he remained until the end of his life. In 1604 he purchased the plates of Gerard Mercator's Atlas from Mercator's grandson. which, in spite of its excellence, had not competed successfully with the Ortelius Theatrum Orbis Terrarum. Hondius republished Mercator's work with 36 additional maps, including several which he himself had produced. Despite the addition of his own contributions, Hondius gave Mercator full credit as the author of the work, listing himself as the publisher. Hondius' new edition of Mercator's work was a great success, selling out after a year. Hondius later published a second edition, as well as a pocket version Atlas Minor. The maps have since become known as the "Mercator/Hondius seriesBetween 1605 and 1610 he was employed by John Speed to engrave the plates for Speed's The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine.
After Hondius' death in 1612, his publishing work in Amsterdam was continued by his widow and two sons, Jodocus II and Henricus. Later his family formed a partnership with Jan Jansson whose name appears on the Atlas as co-publisher after 1633 Eventually, starting with the first 1606 edition in Latin, about 50 editions of the Atlas were released in the main European languages. The series is sometimes called the "Mercator/Hondius/Jansson" series because of Jansson's later contributions

Antique map of Luxemburg, Saarland, Trier
A copper-engraving. Size: 38×50,5 cm.
Joan Blaeu (1599-1673) was the eldest son of Willem Janszoon Blaeu (1571-1638), and was probably born in Alkmaar in the province of Noord-Holland in the final years of the 16th century. He was brought up in Amsterdam, and studied law at the University of Leiden before going into partnership with his father in the 1630s. Although his father Willem had cartographic interests, having studied under the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe and having manufactured globes and instruments, his primary business was as a printer. It was under the control of Joan that the Blaeu printing press achieved lasting fame by moving towards the printing of maps and expanding to become the largest printing press in Europe in the 17th century.
In 1636 he publihed his first work a volume Atlas Novus
He became chief cartographer to the Dutch East India Company from 1638, and from 1651 to 1672 he served on the Amsterdam City Council without a break, holding several public offices. He also invested in Dutch colonial interests in North America.
Joan Blaeu’s main work was Theatrum Orbis Terrarum (or Atlas Maior as it had became known.) Atlas had expanded to between 9 and 12 volumes, depending on the language. With over 3,000 text pages and approximately 600 maps, it was the most expensive book you could buy in the later 17th century.
In February 1672 a fire broke out in the main printing press at Gravenstraat. There are conflicting accounts of the episode, but it is clear that the damage was enormous, destroying not only thousands of paper sheets and printed maps, but also copper plates and metal for type, both of which melted in the heat. Although his other press at Bloemgracht continued, the loss for Joan Blaeu must have been considerable. The situation was made worse by Blaeu's fall from political office under the new regime of William III (of Orange) later in the year. Many of his surviving copper plates were sold, particularly to Pieter Mortier and Frederick de Wit. In December 1673, Joan Blaeu died, leaving his 22-year-old son Joan Blaeu II in control of the company. The Blaeu press continued to publish maps and other works, but its heyday was over, and the firm ceased operations in the early years of the 18th century. A great era in cartographic history was over.

Antique map of Belgium Mechelen.
A coloured copper-engraving.
Pieter Schenk (1660- 1718)
Pieter Schenk was born in Germany but settled in Amsterdam where he became a pupil of Gerard Valck, the engraver. In 1687 he married Valck's sister and thereafter the Schenk and Valck families were active over a long period with a wide range of interests as print sellers, publishers of books, maps, topographical and architectural drawings and globe makers. Although the Schenk family produced some original maps, most of their atlases consisted of printings from revised and re-worked plates originally by Jansson, the Visschers, the Sansons and others.
Gerard Valck (1651-1726) & Leonard Valck (son) (1675-1755)
Gerard Valck and his son were printers, engravers and globe makers in Amsterdam, closely linked by marriage with the Schenk family with whom they also had a long business association in map engraving and publishing.
Damaged

Antique map of Belgium. Hainaut - Namur
A coloured copper engraving. Size: 38 x 50cm
Johannes Janssonius (Arnhem 1588-Amsterdam 1664 (born Jan Janszoon, in English usually Jan Jansson) was a Dutch cartographer who lived and worked in Amsterdam.
Janssonius was born in Arnhem, the son of Jan Janszoon the Elder, a publisher and bookseller. In 1612 he married Elisabeth de Hondt, the daughter of the cartographer and publisher Jodocus Hondius. He produced his first maps in 1616 of France and Italy. Elisabeth Hondius died in 1627 and he remarried one Elisabeth Carlier in 1629. In the 1630s he formed a partnership with his brother in law Henricus Hondius and together they published atlases as Mercator/Hondius/Janssonius. On the death of Henricus he took over the business. Under the leadership of Janssonius the Hondius Atlas was steadily enlarged. Renamed "Atlas Novus", it had three volumes in 1638, one fully dedicated to Italy. 1646 a fourth volume came out with "English County Maps", a year after a similar issue by Willem Blaeu. Janssons maps are similar to those of Blaeu, and he is often accused of copying from his rival, but many of his maps predate those of Blaeu and/or covered different regions. Still they tend to be more flamboyant and, some think, more decorative than Blaue’s. By 1660, at which point the atlas bore the approprate name "Atlas Major", there were 11 volumes, containing the work of about a hundred credited authors and engravers. It included a description of "most of the cities of the world" (Townatlas), of the waterworld (Atlas Maritimus in 33 maps), and of the Ancient World (60 maps). The eleventh volume was the Atlas of the Heavens by Andreas Cellarius. Editions were printed in Dutch, Latin, French, and a few times in German.
After Jansson's death, the publishing company was continued by his son-in law, Johannes van Waesbergen and later still many of the plates of his British maps were acquired by Pieter Schenk and Gerard Valck, who published them again in 1683 as separate maps.

Damaged, small holes