Sign In

- Or use -
Forgot Password Create Account
The item illustrated and described below is sold, but we have another example in stock. To view the example which is currently being offered for sale, click the "View Details" button below.
Description

Fine wide margined example of one of the finest and most beautiful regional 17th-century charts of America, from De Zee Atlas ofter Water-Weereld, first published by Goos in 1666.

The map illustrates the Atlantic coast of America from Cape Cod to Cape Hatteras. The emphasis is on the Dutch colony of New Netherland. New Amsterdam (New York) is shown at the tip of Manhattan Island. Many other Dutch place names appear, including Staten Eylandt, Lange Eylandt, and Vlysingen (Flushing). Along the Delaware River a number of Dutch settlements are shown, including Fort Casimir, Nassau and Elsenburgh, as well as the Swedish Fort Christina. The Schuylkill River, future site of Philadelphia, is also shown.

In New England, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket are shown with their present names, and several early English settlements, such as New Plymouth are located. Excellent early delineation of the Chesapeake Bay, with Jamestown located. The Potomac River is shown as the Patwomeck.

The seventeenth century was the Golden Age of Dutch cartography. As the center of world commerce, chart making flourished. The unquestioned leader in beautiful and decorative sea charts was Pieter Goos. Finely drawn and engraved, printed on top quality paper, and beautifully colored, the charts were intended more for the merchant collector than the practical mariner. Goos' Zee-Atlas was the companion marine atlas of choice for Joan Blaeu's famous terrestrial atlas, the Atlas Maior.

Condition Description
Old Color. Minor old horizontal crease.
Reference
Burden 387; Humphreys, plate 63; Deak, 48
Pieter Goos Biography

Pieter Goos (ca. 1616-1675) was a Dutch map and chart maker, whose father, Abraham Goos (approx. 1590-1643), had already published numerous globes, land and sea maps together with Jodocus Hondius and Johannes Janssonius in Antwerp. Pieter gained recognition due to the publication of sea charts. He bought the copperplates of the famous guide book for sailors, De Lichtende Columne ofte Zeespiegel (Amsterdam 1644, 1649, 1650), from Anthonie Jacobsz. Goos published his own editions of this work in various languages, while adding his own maps. In 1666, he published his De Zee-Atlas ofte Water-Wereld, which is considered one of the best sea atlases of its time. Goos' sea charts came to dominate the Dutch market until the 1670s, when the Van Keulen family came to prominence.