A VERY FINE COMPOSITE ATLAS MAGNIFICENTLY ILLUMINATED AND HEIGHTENED WITH GOLD IN A FINE CONTEMP...

A VERY FINE COMPOSITE ATLAS MAGNIFICENTLY ILLUMINATED AND HEIGHTENED WITH GOLD IN A FINE CONTEMPORARY HAND THROUGHOUT OTTENS, REINER 1698-1750 and JOSUA 1704-1765. [Composite Atlas.] Atlas van vyregezogte Landkaarten. Amsterdam, c. 1730. Large folio (630 x 395 mm). 85 engraved maps and charts of all parts of the world, mostly double-page or folding, including five wall-maps in sheets, by various 17th- and 18th-century mapmakers (see notes) ALL MAGNIFICENTLY FULLY COLORED AND HEIGHTENED IN GOLD IN A FINE CONTEMPORARY HAND including: 4 world maps and hemispheres, 12 maps of the Americas; 49 maps of Europe, 19 Asia and 5 Africa, 4 engraved allegorical frontispieces Europa, Asia, Africa and America, as sectional titles originally published in the Blaeu Atlas Major (1662), all but the first bearing the Ottens imprint and finely colored in a contemporary hand, 4 astronomical plates by or after C. Allard, J. G. Doppelmaier and N. de Fer, two sheets (joined, partly uncut) of armorial playing cards by Claude Oronce Fine (1660, the Caspar Specht issue of c. 1710) titled in manuscript, two distance tables also by Specht, one naval plate and one plate showing naval ensigns both by Covens and Mortier, preceded by engraved general title by J. van Munnikhuysen after L. Webbers bearing the Ottens imprint, additional engraved title to the Covens and Mortier Atlas Novus (c. 1730) by Romein de Hooghe, printed title in red and black to the Dutch text of Sanson's Inieidinge tot de Geografie followed by 20 leaves of printed text, double-page manuscript index listing 94 subjects (including titles and index) and a full-page manuscript copy of the poem Op het Toonneel des Aerdryx, of te Nieuwe Atlas by Joost van den Vondel (1587-1679) both neatly written in ink. Contemporary Dutch red morocco, gilt-paneled, gilt edges, vellum spine label ink lettered: 'Atlas van Vytegezogte Landkaarten' some wear to joints and edges. The titles cut round and mounted, the mapsheets and printed text mostly inlaid to match the overall size, a few folds a little with minor loss of engraved surface, some faint staining, some discoloration to versos. Provenance: 'A Collector Resident Abroad' (his sale, Sotheby's London, 1 February 1984, lot 41); by descent to the present owner. The Ottens Family The Ottens brothers are best known for their atlases assembled to order. The founder of the company was Joachim Ottens (1663-1719) a copper engraver and a print- and map-seller in Amsterdam. He was a member of the art- and print-sellers guild since 1710. After his death in 1719, his widow and sons continued the business which reached its apex under the leadership of the sons Reinier and Hosua Ottens. At the time Amsterdam was the center of commercial cartography and illumination. Composite Atlas Composite Atlases are custom assembled atlases. A wealthy merchant or royalty could select the desired maps from a large catalogue of maps by various map makers including maps by Ottens and Covens and Mortier and have them bound to his/her taste. Ottens assembled atlases in up to 15 volumes, the most famous example is in the Teyler museum in Haarlem Netherlands. The present atlas comprises maps by various publishers including Ottens, and Covens and Mortier. Subjects include 4 world maps and hemispheres, 12 maps of the America; 49 maps of Europe, 19 Asia and 5 Africa, 4 engraved allegorical frontispieces Europa, Asia, Africa and America, as sectional titles originally published in the Blaeu Atlas Major. The atlas was assembled at the pinnacle of Dutch map making and many of the maps represent the most up to date cartographic details. Magnificent coloring The present example is one of the finest, the coloring magnificently executed and highlighted in gilt, paying amazing attention to the details of the engraved titles and the cartouches of the maps. It required an illuminator who was extremely skilled in the precise use of gold leaf in the cartouches, in illuminating selected cities or highlighting some longitude marks. Our example is a single volume atlas illuminated with the same attention to detail and depth as the most famous examples. Apart from this fully colored atlas other examples of lesser quality are known. The coloring was done on a sliding scale, with different levels of perfection, or they were partially colored with the cartouche left uncolored. Rarity A very small number of these composite atlases survived in institutions. Atlases offered on the market were many times broken and the maps were sold individually. This is a very rare example of Ottens's composite atlas with magnificent contemporary hand coloring, one of the finest to come to market. CONTENTS 1 Register van deze Atlas, manuscript contents list numbered 1-94 2 Atlas engraved general title by Munnikhuysen; R. and J. Ottens 3 Atlas Novus, engraved general title by de Hooghe; Covens and Mortier 4 Inleidinge tot de Geographie, printed title and 38 pp. text; de L'ISLE, Guillaume and Guillaume Sanson, Covens and Mortier 5 Op het Toonneel des Aerdryx ofte Nieuwe Atlas; J.v. Vondel, manuscript WORLD 6 Nova totius terrarum orbis geographica ac hydrographica tabula, world map on Mercator's projection (Pieter van den Keere 1608, reduced from his 12-sheet map of the same year, reissued by Jansson 1621 and included in the Atlantis Maioris Appendix in 1630. This is the Janssonius Waesberge-Moses Pitt edition as revised in London, 1680, see: Shirley 264 and 504. 7 Planisphaerium Terrestre sive Terrarum Orbis [title repeated in Dutch], world map in twin hemispheres; Carel Allard, with Covens and Mortier's imprint. Shirley 578 8 Hemisphere Septentrional, northern hemisphere; G. de l'Isle, with Covens and Mortier's imprint 9 Hemisphere Meridional, southern hemisphere (G. de l'Isle, with Covens and Mortier's imprint) EUROPE 10 Europa, allegorical title from the Blaeu Altas Major [1662] 11 Les Armories des Princes de l'Europe, (manuscript title and register) 52 numbered, mounted playing cards, probably by Caspar Specht, Utrecht, c. 1700, (see: next plate) 12 Historische en Geographische Tafel om te leren een kort begrip vande Landen en Staten in Europa, armorial table; C. Specht 13 Accuratissima Europae tabula; Carel Allard, with Covens and Mortier's imprint 14 La Scandie, ou les Trois Royaumes du Nord; Nicolaas Visscher's widow, with Pieter Schenk's imprint 15 Carte des Courones du Nord [... and Second Carte], Scandinavia in two sheets, north and south; G. de l'Isle, with Covens and Mortier's imprint 16 Regni Norvegia; Frederick de Wit 17 Sueciae Magnae, the Swedish empire; Gerard and Leonard Valk 18 Carte du Royaume de Danemarc; G. de l'Isle, with Covens and Mortier's imprint 19 Regnorum Magnae Britanniae, sive Angliae Scotiae nec non Hiberniae; C. Allard 20 Carte des Royaumes d'Angleterre d'Ecosse et d'Irlande, folding map in two sheets, joined; Charles Inselin, published Hubert Jaillot, 1715 (minor loss to fold affecting image) 21 Regni Angliae et Walliae Principatus Tabula; C. Allard, with Covens and Mortier's imprint 22 Tractus Regni Angliae Septentrion., northern England, F. de Wit, with Covens and Mortier's imprint 23 Occidentalior Regni Angliae Districtus, western England and Wales; F. de Wit, with Covens and Mortier's imprint 24 Orientalior Districtus Regni Angliae, East Anglia and the Southeast; F. de Wit, with Covens and Mortier's imprint 25 Novissima Regni Scotiae; C. Allard, with Covens and Mortier's imprint 26 Hyberniae Regni; [C. Allard], w For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing