Rare first edition
World map in two hemispheres by Willem W. Schouten. 1618
The voyage round the world in 1615-17 under the sailing captainship of Willem Cornelis Schouten and commanded by Jacob Le Maire was first narrated in this small book. It was published in 1618 by Willem Jansz. (Vlaeu) who may well have commissioned the maps. During its circumnavigation, the expedition discovered a new strait off Tierra del Fuego named after Le Maire. They also charted Staten Island nearby and hitherto unknown stretches of the New Guinea coastline.
The world map accompanying the book is a simple double hemispherical one showing the vessel's tracks. Continents are marked in outline, and no southern regions are shown. Above the map are two head-and-shoulder portraits of Ferdinand Magellan and Willem C. Schouten, each flanked by angels bearing laurel wreaths. In the top corners are the two ships of the expedition - the Victoria and the Eendracht - and the borders contain portraits of four other circumnavigators: Francis Drake, Thomas Candish (Cavendish), Olivier van Noort and George van Spilbergen.
The earliest impressions of Schouten's map lack the names of the tropics and the names of the islands of Japan, Banda, St. Helena and the Cape of Good Hope. These were added in the second state, appearing in a French-text version also published by Blaeu from Amsterdam in the same year, 1618.
Willem Cornelisz. Schouten (Hoorn, c. 1567 - 1625)
Dutch navigator for the V.O.C. (Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie - Dutch East India Company). He was the first to sail the Cape Horn route to the Pacific Ocean in an expedition led by Jacob le Maire and sponsored by Isaac Le Maire.
Although he had opened an unknown route (south of Cape Horn) for the Dutch, the VOC claimed infringement of its trade monopoly to the Spice Islands. Schouten was arrested (and later released), and his ship was confiscated in Java. On his return, he would sail again for the VOC, and on one of these trips, he died off the coast of Madagascar in 1625.
[no title]
Item Number: 31601 new Authenticity Guarantee
Category: Antique maps > World and Polar
World map in two hemispheres by Willem W. Schouten.
[no title]
Date of the first edition: 1618.
Date of this map: 1618.
First edition - first state.
Copper engraving, printed on paper.
Image size: 170 x 205mm (6¾ x 8 inches).
Sheet size: 355 x 22mm (14 x ¾ inches).
Verso: Blank.
Condition: Excellent.
Condition Rating: A+.
From: Journael ofte Beschrijyvinghe van de wonderlicke reyse gedaen door Willem Cornelisz Schouten van Hoorn, inde Iaren 1615, 1616 en 1617. Amsterdam, W. Blaeu, 1618.
The voyage round the world in 1615-17 under the sailing captainship of Willem Cornelis Schouten and commanded by Jacob Le Maire was first narrated in this small book. It was published in 1618 by Willem Jansz. (Vlaeu) who may well have commissioned the maps. During its circumnavigation, the expedition discovered a new strait off Tierra del Fuego named after Le Maire. They also charted Staten Island nearby and hitherto unknown stretches of the New Guinea coastline.
The world map accompanying the book is a simple double hemispherical one showing the vessel's tracks. Continents are marked in outline, and no southern regions are shown. Above the map are two head-and-shoulder portraits of Ferdinand Magellan and Willem C. Schouten, each flanked by angels bearing laurel wreaths. In the top corners are the two ships of the expedition - the Victoria and the Eendracht - and the borders contain portraits of four other circumnavigators: Francis Drake, Thomas Candish (Cavendish), Olivier van Noort and George van Spilbergen.
The earliest impressions of Schouten's map lack the names of the tropics and the names of the islands of Japan, Banda, St. Helena and the Cape of Good Hope. These were added in the second state, appearing in a French-text version also published by Blaeu from Amsterdam in the same year, 1618.
Willem Cornelisz. Schouten (Hoorn, c. 1567 - 1625)
Dutch navigator for the V.O.C. (Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie - Dutch East India Company). He was the first to sail the Cape Horn route to the Pacific Ocean in an expedition led by Jacob le Maire and sponsored by Isaac Le Maire.
Although he had opened an unknown route (south of Cape Horn) for the Dutch, the VOC claimed infringement of its trade monopoly to the Spice Islands. Schouten was arrested (and later released), and his ship was confiscated in Java. On his return, he would sail again for the VOC, and on one of these trips, he died off the coast of Madagascar in 1625.