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Description

Fine example of Henri Chatelain's edition of Adrien Reland's important map of Japan.

Reland's map of Japan represents a radical departure from prior European maps of Japan and is the first map printed in Japan to use Sino-Japanese characters. Instead of following prior European maps and geographical sources, Reland utilized Japanese maps, most notably a map from the library or Benjamin Dutry, a former director of the Dutch VOC (East India Company). In some respects, this represented a tremendous leap forward in the geographical depiction of Japan, such as in the treatment of Kyushu and in naming the 66 provinces.

The map first appeared in 1715 in volume 3 of Jean Frederic Benard's Recuiel de voiages. Chatelain copied Reland's map in 1719 for his Atlas Historique, although there are a few translation errors from the original. It was thereafter reissued by Reland and Wilehm Broedelet in a larger format in 1715, for inclusion in folio atlases. The plates from the enlarged edition were purchased by Joachim Ottens in about 1720 and thereafter reissued under his name and later the names of his sons, Josua and Reiner.

Large inset of the area around Nagasaki and an ornate dedication cartouche, with about 20 coats of arms.

Reference
Walter 70; Cortazzi, pl 74.
Henri Chatelain Biography

Henri Abraham Chatelain (1684-1743) was a Huguenot pastor of Parisian origins. Chatelain proved a successful businessman, creating lucrative networks in London, The Hague, and then Amsterdam. He is most well known for the Atlas Historique, published in seven volumes between 1705 and 1720. This encyclopedic work was devoted to the history and genealogy of the continents, discussing such topics as geography, cosmography, topography, heraldry, and ethnography. Published thanks to a partnership between Henri, his father, Zacharie, and his younger brother, also Zacharie, the text was contributed to by Nicolas Gueudeville, a French geographer. The maps were by Henri, largely after the work of Guillaume Delisle, and they offered the general reader a window into the emerging world of the eighteenth century.