ISLE ST HELENE
£165
Striking and attractive bird's-eye view of the island with numerous sailing ships, two decorative cartouches, and a sunrise and towering clouds on the horizon. A compass rose and rhumb lines appear to be placed on the ocean surface in 3-D perspective and orient the map with north at the bottom. Locations on the northwest side of the island are named in Dutch in the key and in French in the upper right corner. This is a slightly revised edition of the map that first appeared in Ogilby's book on Africa in 1670.
Excellent condition.
Publication: La Galerie Ageable du Monde…
code : M3539
Cartographer : Pieter Van Der AA
Date : 1720 Leiden
Size : 25*32 cms
availability : Available
Price : £165
Pieter Van Der Aa (1659-1733)
Van Der Aa was a prolific publisher, working in Leiden during the first three decades of the eighteenth century. Much of his output consisted of re-issues and re-engravings of map and view plates that he had acquired from earlier mapmakers. Little of his output was original, though that which is has a very distinct style, precisely and elegantly engraved, and is much sought-after today.
Perhaps his most remarkable publication was the elaborate Galerie Agreable Du Monde, issued in 1729, in 66 parts, bound into 27 volumes, which contained about 3,000 plates, apparently limited to 100 sets. Another of his extensive publications was the Cartes Des Itineraires Et Voyages Modernes, a collection of 28 volumes of travel accounts, illustrated with a series of small, but finely engraved maps, often with decorative pictorial title-pieces.
An interesting feature of Van Der Aa's method is that several of his atlases include maps printed within large, separately engraved, elaborately designed mock-frame borders, which were prepared with a blank centre so that individual maps could be over-printed on that area.
Despite the quantity and variety of Van Der Aa's publications they seem to have had only a limited circulation, and so are now scarce.
