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Naples - Vesuvius, by Georg Braun & Frans Hogenberg, published by J. Janssonius. 1657

 TRANSLATION OF CAPTION: The most beautiful view from Mount Posilippo of Naples on the Tyrrhenian Sea and of Mount Vesuvius.   
  
 COMMENTARY BY BRAUN (on verso):  "Mount Vesuvius is particularly noteworthy because so many authors describe it, and it lies near Naples beside the sea. Strabo describes it as follows: Mount Vesuvius has a fertile soil, except at the very top of the mountain, where there is a barren plateau, where hollow pits with scorched stones can be seen that grow ever deeper on account of the great heat. It is therefore assumed that fuel and tinder that burn well are present within, and that the burning will only cease when this material runs short or is used up. In the middle, it has a chasm that is thought to be bottomless and to extend deep into the earth; from this, it expels its fire."  
  
 As a complement to the bird's-eye view of Naples in Volume I, this plate offers an atmospheric view of the Gulf of Naples looking towards Vesuvius in the centre, located just 9 km from the city. Overlooking the town from Vomero Hill is the Castel Sant'Elmo, characterised by symbolic cannon fire. An impressive ancient tunnel, the Grotta di Posilippo (I), can be seen in the foreground. It had been widened only a few years earlier, under Viceroy Don Pedro de Toledo, and provided convenient access to Pozzuoli and Baia from Naples. The entrance lies at a 90-degree angle to the opening shown here, where it has been altered for the sake of the composition. Naples lies between two active volcanic regions, Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields. Amongst Vesuvius's many terrifying eruptions, probably the most famous was the one that destroyed Pompeii on 24 August AD 79. The volcano has been dormant since 1944. Naples arose around 750 BC out of two Greek colonies; the Greeks named the rapidly growing town "Nea Polis", signifying "New Town". During the Roman Empire, Naples and its neighbouring cities, including Capri, Herculaneum, and Pompeii, became popular summer residences for the Roman upper class. After being ruled by several different dynasties over the centuries, in 1442, Naples was conquered by King Alfonso V of Aragon, who made it the capital of his southern Italian kingdom. (Taschen)

The Janssonius Family

Joannes Janssonius (Arnhem, 1588-1664), son of the Arnhem publisher Jan Janssen, married Elisabeth Hondius, daughter of Jodocus Hondius, in Amsterdam in 1612. After his marriage, he settled down in this town as a bookseller and publisher of cartographic material. In 1618, he established himself in Amsterdam next door to Blaeu’s bookshop. He entered into serious competition with Willem Jansz. Blaeu when copying Blaeu’s Licht der Zeevaert after the expiration of the privilege in 1620. His activities concerned the publication of atlases, books, single maps, and an extensive book trade with branches in Frankfurt, Danzig, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Berlin, Koningsbergen, Geneva, and Lyon. In 1631, he began publishing atlases together with Henricus Hondius.

In the early 1640s, Henricus Hondius left the atlas publishing business to Janssonius. Competition with Joan Blaeu, Willem’s son and successor, in atlas production, prompted Janssonius to enlarge his Atlas Novus finally into a work of six volumes, into which a sea atlas and an atlas of the Old World were inserted. Other atlases published by Janssonius are Mercator’s Atlas Minor, Hornius’s historical atlas (1652), the townbooks in eight volumes (1657), Cellarius’s Atlas Coelestis and several sea atlases and pilot guides.

After the death of Joannes Janssonius, the shop and publishing firm were continued by the heirs under the direction of Johannes van Waesbergen (c. 1616-1681), son-in-law of Joannes Janssonius. Van Waesbergen added Janssonius's name to his own.

In 1676, Joannes Janssonius’s heirs sold by auction “all the remaining Atlases in Latin, French, High and Low German, as well as the Stedeboecken in Latin, in 8 volumes, bound and unbound, maps, plates belonging to the Atlas and Stedeboecken.” The copperplates from Janssonius’s atlases were afterwards sold to Schenk and Valck.


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Elegantissimus ad Mare Tyrrhenum ex Monte Pausilipo Neapolis Montisque Vesuvius Prospectus.

€920  ($1067.2 / £782)
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Item Number:  31821  new Authenticity Guarantee

Category:  Antique maps > Europe > Italy - Cities

Vesuvius, by J. Janssonius.

Title: Elegantissimus ad Mare Tyrrhenum ex Monte Pausilipo Neapolis Montisque Vesuvius Prospectus.

Date of the first edition: 1572.
Date of this map: 1657.

Copper engraving, printed on paper.
Image size: 360 x 435mm (14¼ x 17¼ inches).
Sheet size: 460 x 565mm (18 x 22¼ inches).
Verso: Latin text.
Condition: Original coloured, some creasing at lower centre, flattened.
Condition Rating: A.

From: Theatrum Celebriorum Urbium Italiae, aliarumque in Insulis Maris Mediterranei. Amsterdam, J. Janssonius [1657]. (Van der Krogt 4, p. 282, 42:15)

 TRANSLATION OF CAPTION: The most beautiful view from Mount Posilippo of Naples on the Tyrrhenian Sea and of Mount Vesuvius.   
  
 COMMENTARY BY BRAUN (on verso):  "Mount Vesuvius is particularly noteworthy because so many authors describe it, and it lies near Naples beside the sea. Strabo describes it as follows: Mount Vesuvius has a fertile soil, except at the very top of the mountain, where there is a barren plateau, where hollow pits with scorched stones can be seen that grow ever deeper on account of the great heat. It is therefore assumed that fuel and tinder that burn well are present within, and that the burning will only cease when this material runs short or is used up. In the middle, it has a chasm that is thought to be bottomless and to extend deep into the earth; from this, it expels its fire."  
  
 As a complement to the bird's-eye view of Naples in Volume I, this plate offers an atmospheric view of the Gulf of Naples looking towards Vesuvius in the centre, located just 9 km from the city. Overlooking the town from Vomero Hill is the Castel Sant'Elmo, characterised by symbolic cannon fire. An impressive ancient tunnel, the Grotta di Posilippo (I), can be seen in the foreground. It had been widened only a few years earlier, under Viceroy Don Pedro de Toledo, and provided convenient access to Pozzuoli and Baia from Naples. The entrance lies at a 90-degree angle to the opening shown here, where it has been altered for the sake of the composition. Naples lies between two active volcanic regions, Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields. Amongst Vesuvius's many terrifying eruptions, probably the most famous was the one that destroyed Pompeii on 24 August AD 79. The volcano has been dormant since 1944. Naples arose around 750 BC out of two Greek colonies; the Greeks named the rapidly growing town "Nea Polis", signifying "New Town". During the Roman Empire, Naples and its neighbouring cities, including Capri, Herculaneum, and Pompeii, became popular summer residences for the Roman upper class. After being ruled by several different dynasties over the centuries, in 1442, Naples was conquered by King Alfonso V of Aragon, who made it the capital of his southern Italian kingdom. (Taschen)

The Janssonius Family

Joannes Janssonius (Arnhem, 1588-1664), son of the Arnhem publisher Jan Janssen, married Elisabeth Hondius, daughter of Jodocus Hondius, in Amsterdam in 1612. After his marriage, he settled down in this town as a bookseller and publisher of cartographic material. In 1618, he established himself in Amsterdam next door to Blaeu’s bookshop. He entered into serious competition with Willem Jansz. Blaeu when copying Blaeu’s Licht der Zeevaert after the expiration of the privilege in 1620. His activities concerned the publication of atlases, books, single maps, and an extensive book trade with branches in Frankfurt, Danzig, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Berlin, Koningsbergen, Geneva, and Lyon. In 1631, he began publishing atlases together with Henricus Hondius.

In the early 1640s, Henricus Hondius left the atlas publishing business to Janssonius. Competition with Joan Blaeu, Willem’s son and successor, in atlas production, prompted Janssonius to enlarge his Atlas Novus finally into a work of six volumes, into which a sea atlas and an atlas of the Old World were inserted. Other atlases published by Janssonius are Mercator’s Atlas Minor, Hornius’s historical atlas (1652), the townbooks in eight volumes (1657), Cellarius’s Atlas Coelestis and several sea atlases and pilot guides.

After the death of Joannes Janssonius, the shop and publishing firm were continued by the heirs under the direction of Johannes van Waesbergen (c. 1616-1681), son-in-law of Joannes Janssonius. Van Waesbergen added Janssonius's name to his own.

In 1676, Joannes Janssonius’s heirs sold by auction “all the remaining Atlases in Latin, French, High and Low German, as well as the Stedeboecken in Latin, in 8 volumes, bound and unbound, maps, plates belonging to the Atlas and Stedeboecken.” The copperplates from Janssonius’s atlases were afterwards sold to Schenk and Valck.


References: Van der Krogt 4 - p. 1209, #2995; Fauser - #9607; Taschen (Br. Hog.) - p. 424