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Dutch Golden Age Views of the Low Countries

An important work for the history of the Netherlands.  French edition of Luigi (or Lodovico) Guicciardini's extensive account of the Low Countries, first published in Italian as Descrittione di tutti Paesi Bassi in 1567. Guicciardini, an Italian merchant, moved to Antwerp in 1541 and remained in the Netherlands until he died in 1589. This is the first Janssonius edition, the second French edition overall, of this famous description, profusely illustrated with fine engraved views of towns in the Netherlands, Belgium and Northern France.

Petrus Montanus updated the French text by François de Belleforest (1530-1583) for the Cornelis Claesz. 1609 edition, here used by Janssonius.

An exhaustive treatment of the plates in the various editions of this book can be found in Guicciardini Illustratus, where the often varying number of plates in different examples is explained:

... an edition cannot be regarded as an unchanging unity with uniform contents. After they had been printed, presumably not all books were finished at once, but a new series was bound from time to time. In the meantime it could happen quite often that prints were replaced by a later state or even by another print, or that prints were added. Consequently, within one single edition differences can occur in the kind of prints included and their total number -  Deys, et al., Guicciardini Illustratus, page 370.  

For this edition up to 100 engraved plates are called for per Guicciardini Illustratus. Brabant-5 is used instead of Brabant-4.2, and Netherlands-6 is replaced by Netherlands-8. Otherwise, the maps and views are identical to the entry for the 1613 Latin edition.

The present example contains the following 95 engravings. Numbers in parenthesis below are printed on the plate of respective view.

1. Belgicarum Provinciarum Nova Descriptio (Deys: Nederlanden-6) [unnumbered in the plate]
2. Brabantia (Deys: Brabant-5) (1)
3. Levven (Lovanium Brabanticarum...) (2)
4. Bruxella (3)
5. Antwerpiae Nobilissimi Totius Orbius Terraru[m] (4)
6. Bursa (5)
7. Temple D Virginis Mariae Vera Delineatio [Antwero Cathedral] (6)
8. Domus Senatoria Antewerpiensis [-] Pos Hisp. Milit. Ince[n]diu[m] Instravrata (7)
9. Domus Hansae Teutonicae [-] Sacri Romani Imperii (8)
10. Tshertogenbosch (Buscumducis oppidum...) (9)
11. Tienen (10)
12. Berghe[n] Op Zoom (11)
13. Maastrict = Traiectum ad Mosam (12)
14. Lier (Lira elegans et amoenum...) (13)
15. Hoc et Civitas Hellmonda (14)
16. Hic et situs Oppidi Graviae (15)
17. Limbourg (16)
18. Mechelen (17)
19. Gelria et Zutfania (18)
20. Nimmegen (Novimagiu[m], sive Noviom Agum vulgo Nijmmegen) (19)
21. Ruer Monde (Ruremunda Gelriae Opp.) (20)
22. Zutphen (21)
23. Arnhem (Arnhemium Gelriae in Ripa Reni Opp) (22)
24. Civitas Bommelia sicuti fortificabat (23)
25. Lochum (24)
26. Gelria (26)
27. Wachtendonck (27)
28. Deventer (Liberae et Hanseaticae Urbis Davetrie[m] Delineatio) (28)
29. Campen : Urbis Campensis ad Isolam Fluvium icon (30)
30. Frisiae Occidentalis Typus (31)
31. Lewardum Occientalis Frisiae Opp. (32)
32. Franicher (33)
33. Groninga opuleta populosa (34)
34. Civitas Embda, eo modo situata cum essit controversia inter ipsam et suum Comitem anno. (35)
35. Caerte vande lande ende Graefschappe van Hollandt, Midtsgaders het landt Utrecht. [printing plate damaged: upper right corner broken, obliterating coat of arms. Per Deys: "Even in the 1612 Dutch edition, this copper plate was already broken at the top left."] (36)
36. Dordrecht (37)
37. Haerlem (38)
38. Delft (Delpium urbis hollandiae cultissima...) (39)
39. Lugdunum Batavorum Leyden in Holldant (40)
40. Amstelredam (41)
41. S. Nicolaes oste Ouwe Kerk tot Amsterdam [unnumbered, but 46]
42. Byrsa Amsterodamensis (45)
43. Hollandiae oppidum Gouda (47)
44. Die Stadt Enehuijsen: La ville denschuijsen (48)
45. Hooren in West Vrieslant (49)
46. Alcmaer (50)
47. Schoonhoven (51)
48. Gorchum (52)
49. Rotterdam (53)
50. Civitas Mons Geertrudanus (54)
51. Graven Hage, T'Hof van Holla[n]t (55)
52. Ruinarum Arcis Brittaniicae Apud Batavos Typus (56)
53. Briel (57)
54. Trajectum (58)
55. Zelandiae Typus (59)
56. Middelburch (60)
57. Vere (64)
58. Filissinga (62)
59. Domus Senatoria Vlissingensis (63)
60. Arnemvyden (65)
61. Flandria (66)
62. Gandavum (67)
63. Brugae Flandicarum Urbium Decus (Brugae vulgo Brugh) (68)
64. Hypra flandriarum Civitatu minitissma (69)
65. Slvys (Slusa teurtonicae Flandriae opp: admodum elegans) (70)
66. Oostende (71)
67. Duijnkerken (72)
68. Abbildung der Insul und Festung Maynaw (ca. 1647), not called for by either book index or Deys
69. Grevelinge (Gravelinga, Urba Maritima olim Portu Amplissimo Famosa (74)
70. Lille (75)
71. Duacum, Catuacorum urbs tam studijs quam incolis et literarum  studijs elegantissime ornata (76)
72. Tornacum (77)
73. Aest = Alostum Flandriae Imperalis Caput (78) 
74. Artois Atrebatum Regionis Vera Descriptio (79)
75. Arras (80)
76. S. Omer (81)
77. La Ville de Cambray (82)
78. Hannonia (83)
79. Mons = Mons Hannoniae Urbis potens... (84)
80. Valenchiene (Valencena quondam cygnorum vallis urbs Han...) (85)
81. Landreci [with] (86)
82. Avesnes [with] ([87])
83. Cimai [and] (88)
84. Mariebourg (89)
85. Philippeville [with:] (90)
86. Beaumontin huinaut (91)
87. Lutzenburgensis Ducatus Veriss. Descript. (92)
88. Lutzenbourg (Lutzenburgu[m], Ducatus...) (93)
89. Namurcum Comitatus (94)
90. Namurcum : Namurcum Ad. Mosae Flumen. Sita. Civitas, ad Vivum Expressa (95)
91. Charlemont (96)
92. Walcourt (97)
93. Liege (99)
94. Leodiensis Episcopatus Delineatio (98)
95. Aquisgranum Vulgo Aich (100)