Palestine – Blaeu, Willem Janszoon. (1571 – 1638).

Terra Sancta quae in Sacris Terra Promissionis olim Palestina.

Original hand-coloured map. Augsburg, Guiljelmi Blaeuw, 1641. Plate Size: 50 cm x 38 cm. Sheet Size: 56.8 cm x 47.6 cm. Original map. Very good condition with some minor browning to outer margins only. Off square margins. Centre fold as issued. Map orientated so that the Mediterranean coastline faces the upper border. German text on reverse.

[Laor 106; Loewenhardt 102; Nebenzahl 42 mit Abb.; Koeman II, 8150:2.2.].
″The map was drawn by J. Hondius, Junior, who died in 1629, before its publication. Blaeu bought the plate, replaced Hondius’ name with his own, and included the map in his atlas without changing the date”.

A highly detailed and very interesting map showing ‘The Holy Land’ of Palestine with the Twelve Tribes of Israel delineated on the map also. What makes the map even more fascinating is that the Exodus of Joseph and the Israelites out of Egypt, across the Red Sea and their decades-long wandering back to Israel is recounted pictorially and the with the inclusion of Biblical references. Stations of the Exodus are depicted across the map from the escape out of slavery in Egypt, their journey across Sinai into Canaan and to where the Israelites crossed the Jordan River. The Divine revelation of the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai is depicted as a halo of cloud. The Mare Mortuum (Dead Sea) and Lake Galilee are shown on the map as are Jerusalem, Hebron and Jericho.
Off-shore in the Mediterranean lie two sea creatures – one of which may be menacing a nearby fishing boat whose crew appear to be raising/gathering up the main sail. In the lower section, out in the Mare Rubrum (Red Sea) a lone sea-monster acts as sentinel. Two compass roses and a scale provide nautical and geographic information. The map is further embellished with the inclusion of a large ornamental title cartouche marvelously adorned with two dogs and armillary sphere. On either side of the cartouche Moses bears the two tablets of God-given Commandments while a priest with kingly-bearing holds a burning incense censer for a propitiatory offering.

Willem Janszoon Blaeu (1571-1638) was a Dutch cartographer, atlas maker and publisher. Along with his son Johannes Blaeu, Willem is considered one of the notable figures of the Netherlandish/Dutch school of cartography in its golden age (the 16th and 17th centuries). Blaeu set up his mapmaking and publishing business in Amsterdam, where he sold instruments and globes, published maps, and edited the works of intellectuals like Descartes and Hugo Grotius. In 1633 he was appointed map-maker of the Dutch East India Company. In 1635, he released his atlas, Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, sive, Atlas novus.
Willem died in 1638. He had two sons, Cornelis (1610-1648) and Johannes (1596-1673). Joan trained as a lawyer, but joined his father’s business rather than practice. After his father’s death, the brothers took over their father’s shop and Joan took on his work as hydrographer to the Dutch East India Company. Later in life, Joan would modify and greatly expand his father’s Atlas novus, eventually releasing his masterpiece, the Atlas maior, between 1662 and 1672. (Wikipedia)

• Keywords: 17th Century · 17th Century Map · Bible · Cartography · Catalogue No.5 – Maps of the World · Catalogue No.8 – Judaica Collection · Catalogue Summer 2020 · Egypt · German · Israel · Jerusalem · Judaica · Judaica – Collection · Judaica – Rare · Library & Collection Building · Map · Original Map · Original Maps · Palestine · Rare Map Africa · Rare Map Egypt · Rare Map Israel · Rare Map Mediterranean · Rare Map Palestine · Vintage Map
• Inventory Number: 200026AG