Covens & Mortier. A Map Publishing House in Amsterdam. 1721-1866.

For almost two centuries, the Amsterdam firm of Covens & Mortier was the most significant and crucial Dutch publishing house in commercial cartography. In terms of quantity, it was the biggest contemporary map-trading house worldwide, distributing innumerable maps, atlases, globes, and books.

Pieter (Pierre) Mortier (Leiden, 1661 – Amsterdam, 1711)

Nothing is known about the youth of Pieter Mortier. He studied in Paris from 1681 to approximately 1685. He must have come into contact with French 'libraires' and learned the bookselling trade there. In 1685, he returned to Amsterdam and opened a small bookshop. He joined the Book, Art Sellers' and Printers' Guild the same year.

Pieter sold books in Dutch and foreign languages but also published books himself, usually in French. His business flourished so much that in 1688, he was forced to rent another house on the Vijgendam.

Pieter Mortier's first privilege for maps was granted by the States of Holland and West Friesland on September 15, 1690. It refers to Sanson's maps, which he 'is printing and correcting with great pains and care'.

Pieter began publishing maps and atlases on a large scale. By the beginning of the 18th century, he had become so wealthy that he could purchase three houses in Amsterdam: the Beurssluis, on the Vijgendam, and the Heremietensteeg. He rebuilt the Vijgendam house into a large, prestigious structure that would serve for over a century as a shop, business, and residential structure for Covens & Mortier's publishing house.

He died on February 13, 1711, after a brief illness. The company continued under the management of Pieter's widow, Amelia' s-Gravesande.

After she died in 1719, her son, Cornelis, took over the management for a few years.

On November 20, 1721, a company was founded by Cornelis Mortier and Johannes Covens I. The latter was married the same year to Cornelis's sister. From that year on, the name of :

Covens & Mortier.

Their firm would see a massive expansion in the next 140 years. In 1732, the heirs sold the property to their brother Cornelis and his partner Covens. Their main competitors were Reinier & Josua Ottens and Gerard Valck & Petrus Schenck. After the death of Johannes Covens I (1774), his son Johannes Covens II (1722-1794) entered the business. In 1778, Johannes added a new company name :

J. Covens & Son.

Johannes Covens II was succeeded by his son Cornelis Covens (1764-1825), who, in turn, brought Peter Mortier IV, the great-grandson of Petrus Mortier I, into the business. The name was from 1794 to 1866:

Mortier, Covens & Son.

The last Covens in the series was Cornelis Johannes Covens (1806-1880).

Covens & Mortier had a large stock of atlases and maps, including Delisle, Jaillot, Johannes Janssonius, Sanson, and Claes Jansz. Visscher, Nicolaas Visscher, and Frederik de Wit. For decades, the press produced an impressive number of atlases.