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A fantastic example of the rare first edition of Doncker's chart of the Baltic region.
The primary chart extends from Rugen to Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania to the coasts of Sweden and Finland, and centers on Poland. The map includes two inset charts, separated by fantastic floral borders. One covers the area around Danzig (Gdansk) and the second covers the region near Stockholm. This is one of the earliest commercial sea charts to cover the region.
The map includes a coat of arms and two cartouches. Rhumb lines criss-cross the map, soundings appear, and shoals and other maritime features appear.
Hendrik Doncker was a famous bookseller in Amsterdam, who started in the trade at twenty-two and then ran his shop successfully for fifty years. He published his first sea atlas around 1659. Due to the fact that Hendrik Doncker corrected and improved his charts more frequent than other well-known map makers, as van Loon, Goos, or Theunis, his business was quite successful and there was a high demand for his works and this reflected also the various improved and corrected editions of sea atlases he published.
This map was published in a composite sea atlas by Pieter Goos, who was 'one of the best known maritime booksellers of Amsterdam' (Koeman). He published a number of different sea atlases or pilot books, his work was very much derivative. With his 'Zee-Atlas' he relied heavily on Hendrick Doncker's 'Ze e-Atlas' of 1659.
A truly fine map.
Hendrik Doncker was a prominent bookseller in Amsterdam best known for his sea charts and nautical atlases. He issued his own original charts, which he updated frequently, and also worked with colleagues like Pieter Goos, for example to produce the pilot guide, De Zeespeigel. He died in 1699, after fifty years in business. His plates then passed to Johannes van Keulen.
