JANSSONIUS, Johannes

Nova Anglia Novum Belgium et Virginia

      Amsterdam: , 1636. 380 x 500 mm., in good early outline colour, good condition. Burden states "This influential map is derived from the less well circulated Johannes de Laet of 1630. Enlarged, and expanded to the north and east slightly, it carries de Laet's narrative on the reverse. De Laet's map is one of extreme importance, being the first printed to use the names Manbattes (Manhattan) and N. Amsterdam. The nomenclature is also virtually identical, with the few minor differences most likely owing to engraver's error. C. of Feare is still depicted over 2o too far south. This is not the Cape Fear we know of today but actually Cape Lookout. During the fiercely competitive decade of the 1630s the families of Blaeu and Hondius-Janssonius often produced maps drawn directly from one another. Here, however, Janssonius produces one that was not followed by Blaeu, the latter relying upon the more restricted map of "NOVA BELGICA" to represent the land north of Chesapeake Bay. A sign of the Dutch influence here is that both atlas producers largely declined to include the advanced cartography of Champlain, thereby relegating it altogether. Here Janssonius differs from Hondius' "AMERICA SEPTENTRIONALIS" in his delineation of the Great Lakes area. The extension northwards enables him to encapsulate Grand Lac, something de Laet did not do. Although Karpinski claims this to be the first map to show a complete Lake Superior, there is no evidence to suggest that this lake was meant, it more likely represents Lake Huron" (Burden). This is an example of the first of three known states of the map. An examination of the text on the verso shows that this is from the first French edition of 1639. Burden 247, state 1; Cumming, W.P. (SE) no. 39; Van der Krogt, P. (Atlantes) 9310:1A.1; McCorkle New England 636.2; Stokes (1915) vol. 2, pp. 144-5 & 152-3.