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1640 circa Jan Jansson
$ 375.00
Description

Fine Map of the Guinea Coast  

Detailed map of Guinea, showing the length of a coast important to African-European trade, including the slave trade.  

The map shows the African coast from Sierra Leone in West Africa to Biafara. As with all European maps of Africa of the mid-seventeenth century, the coastline is much more detailed than the interior, reflecting the state of geographic knowledge about the continent.

Many mountain chains run through the center of the various kingdoms, while settlements are marked with small building symbols that increase in size according to the city’s population or fame. The main geographic feature is the large river running parallel to the top border, the Niger. An inscription near the river explains its dark color and lifegiving qualities in a dry region, like the Nile farther east.

As on Jansson map of the entire continent, seen here, animals roam freely over the interior. Two crocodiles prowl near the Niger, while lions range farther south. Small herds of elephants are in the southwest and southeast, while monkeys explore Guinea. At sea, two compass roses radiate rhumb lines and five ships sail the waters. In the bottom right, two young cherubs carry an elephant tusk aloft.

The apes of Dr Tulp

The more distinctive decorative elements of the map also carry the most interesting story. A coat of arms and a dedicatory cartouche in the lower left explain that the map is dedicated to Dr. Nicholas Tulp (1593-1674), a member of the Amsterdam government and a celebrated anatomist. The dedication is not meant as a hollow compliment, but as an ode to one of the most famous doctors of the seventeenth century. Tulp is the same doctor seen in Rembrandt’s The Anatomy Lesson (1632). In the painting, Tulp is surrounded by his colleagues who are eagerly watching as Tulp demonstrates the inner workings of a man’s forearm.

Rembrandt’s choice of an arm for the dissection is apt, as Tulp was particularly famous for his work on the anatomy of the arm. Specifically, Tulp had previously dissected the arm of an ape and found that its anatomy was almost the same as a human arm. The specimen was originally from Angola, just to the south of the area shown on this map. Tulp’s notes of the dissection are the earliest accurate description of an ape by a European, although specialists now believe he dissected a bonobo, not a chimpanzee as originally thought.

As a further reference to Dr. Tulp, detailed illustrations of three apes sit atop and on the sides of the title cartouche. The central ape is flanked by two African figures, a man holding beads and a spear, and a woman with beads and a parrot. These items and, sadly, the humans, represent the wealth available in the region depicted and also reflect the prevalence of the appalling slave trade then still in existence.

The maps were included in Hondius-Jansson atlases from 1635. Later, they became an important part of the famous Atlas Maior, the most beautiful atlas ever made and then the most expensive books ever produced. The maps of Africa made up roughly one half of volume 9 of the Atlas, sharing space with Spain and Portugal.

This is an exquisitely detailed map that tells an important chapter of the history of African-European exchange.  

Reference
Erlend de Groot and Peter van der Krogt (eds.), Atlas Blaeu-Van der Hem, vol V (Hes & De Graf, 2006); C. Koeman, Joan Blaeu and his Grand Atlas (Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, Amsterdam: 1970); Oscar I. Norwich with Jeffrey C. Stone and Pam Kolbe, Norwich’s Maps of Africa: An illustrated and annotated carto-bibliography, second edition (Terra Nova Press, 1997).
Jan Jansson Biography

Jan Janssonius (also known as Johann or Jan Jansson or Janszoon) (1588-1664) was a renowned geographer and publisher of the seventeenth century, when the Dutch dominated map publishing in Europe. Born in Arnhem, Jan was first exposed to the trade via his father, who was also a bookseller and publisher. In 1612, Jan married the daughter of Jodocus Hondius, who was also a prominent mapmaker and seller. Jonssonius’ first maps date from 1616.

In the 1630s, Janssonius worked with his brother-in-law, Henricus Hondius. Their most successful venture was to reissue the Mercator-Hondius atlas. Jodocus Hondius had acquired the plates to the Mercator atlas, first published in 1595, and added 36 additional maps. After Hondius died in 1612, Henricus took over publication; Janssonius joined the venture in 1633. Eventually, the atlas was renamed the Atlas Novus and then the Atlas Major, by which time it had expanded to eleven volumes. Janssonius is also well known for his volume of English county maps, published in 1646.

Janssonius died in Amsterdam in 1664. His son-in-law, Johannes van Waesbergen, took over his business. Eventually, many of Janssonius’ plates were sold to Gerard Valck and Pieter Schenk, who added their names and continued to reissue the maps.