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Description

Nice old color example of Coven's & Mortier's edition of De L'Isle's maps of the northern part of South America.

The map sjows Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Ecuador, Brazil, Guiana and parts of Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay and Argentina.

De L'Isle was known for his fine scientific mapping style, restricting the cartographic content of his maps to what he deemed to be reliable reports and eliminating speculative information. Through a meticulous process of comparing the reports from multiple sources, he was able to reconcile diverse data to create the best maps of the period.

The detail in the Amazon River and its tributatries is quite advanced for the peridod, as is the treatment of the Andes mountains.

 

Condition Description
Minor offsetting. Narrow lower margin. Abrasion just to the left of the M in Mer De Sud.
Covens & Mortier Biography

Covens & Mortier was one of the largest and most successful publishing firms in Dutch history and continued in business for over a century. Pierre Mortier the Elder (1661-1711) had obtained a privilege in 1690 to distribute the works of French geographers in the Netherlands. After his widow continued the business for several years, Cornelis (1699-1783) took over in 1719.

In 1721, Mortier forged a partnership with Johannes Covens (1697-1774), who had recently married Cornelis’ sister. They published under the joint name of Covens & Mortier. In 1774, upon the death of his father, Johannes Covens II (1722-1794) took over his father’s share. In 1778, the company changed its name to J. Covens & Zoon, or J. Covens & Son.

Covens II’s son, Cornelis (1764-1825), later inherited the business and brought Petrus Mortier IV back into the fold. Petrus was the great-grandson of Petrus Mortier I. From 1794, the business was called Mortier, Covens & Zoon, or Mortier, Covens, & Son.

The business specialized in publishing French geographers including Deslisle, Jaillot, Janssonius, and Sanson. They also published atlases, for example a 1725 reissue of Frederik de Wit’s Atlas Major and an atlas, with additions, from the works of Guillaume Delisle. There were also Covens & Mortier pocket atlases and town atlases. The company profited from acquiring plates from other geographers as well. For example, the purchased Pieter van der Aa’s plates in 1730. Finally, they also compiled a few maps in house. At their height, they had the largest collection of geographic prints ever assembled in Amsterdam.