Pocket atlas oblong – Commentariorum Rerum Germanicarum (..); P. Bertius / J. Janssonius – 1616

Description

Rare pocket atlas of the Holy Roman Empire with an engraved title and the imperial blazon. With family trees of royal houses, historical and Roman Peutinger maps, detailed national and regional maps and a large number of beautiful views of relevant Central European cities. The maps and views are inspired by the works of Sebastian Münster, Gerhard Mercator, Abraham Ortelius and Braun & Hogenberg.

The book consists of three parts. The first two describe the historical development of the Holy Roman Empire from Charlemagne to the sixteenth century. The third offers a panorama of the cities of the Holy Roman Empire on the eve of the Thirty Years’ War. In addition to the frontispiece, the book consists of 26 engraved maps, 20 of which are full-page and 101 detailed city views. Among the cities represented are: Amsterdam, Basel, Bergen, Bern, Bonn, Hamburg, Cologne, Copenhagen, Heidelberg, Munich, Prague, Riga, Stockholm, Strasburg, Vienna, Wratislava, Zurich.

Seltener Taschenatlas des Heiligen Römischen Reiches mit eingraviertem Titel und Reichswappen. Mit Stammbäumen der Fürstenhäuser, historischen und römischen Peutinger-Karten, detaillierten Landes- und Regionalkarten und einer großen Anzahl schöner Ansichten bedeutender mitteleuropäischer Städte.

Das Buch besteht aus drei Teilen. Die ersten beiden beschreiben die historische Entwicklung des Heiligen Römischen Reiches von Karl der Große bis zum 16. Jahrhunderts. Der dritte bietet ein Panorama der Städte des Heiligen Römischen Reiches am Vorabend des Dreißigjährigen Krieges. Neben dem Frontispiz enthält das Buch 26 Kupferstichkarten, davon 20 ganzseitige und 101 detaillierte Stadtansichten. Zu den dargestellten Städten zählen: Amsterdam, Basel, Bergen, Bern, Bonn, Hamburg, Köln, Kopenhagen, Heidelberg, München, Prag, Riga, Stockholm, Straßburg, Wien, Wratislava, Zürich.

Details

• Type: Pocketatlas oblong, complete, with an engraved title and the imperial blazon.
• Title: Commentariorum Rerum Germanicarum. Libri Tres. Primus est Germania veteris. Secundus, Germaniae posterioris, a Karolo Magno ad nostra usq, tempora, cum Principum Genealogijs. Tertius est praecipuarum Germaniae urbium cum earum Iconismis et Descriptionibus. (…).
• Author: Petrus Bertius
• Publisher: Johannes Janssonius in Amsterdam
• Carthographer(s): Sebastian Münster, Gerard Mercator, Abraham Ortelius, Braun & Hogenberg a.o.
• Engraver(s): Petrus Kearius a.o.
• Date of publication: 1616
• Size: oblong 4to
• Text: Latin
• ID: M2630Bk
• Source: Avery, Chadenat, Koeman I p. 60, Meurer in Woodward’s History of Carthography Vol III p. 1242

Condition: B

Good, given age. General age-related toning and/or occasional minor spots and defects. Sharp prints. Contemporary calf, spine with raised bands, rubbed, partly loose, slightly used.

Gut, dem Alter entsprechend. Allgemeine altersbedingte Tönung und/oder gelegentliche kleinere Flecken und Mängel. Scharfe Drucke. Zeitgenössisches Kalbsleder, Rücken mit erhabenen Bändern, berieben, teilweise lose, leicht gebraucht.

Backgrounds

Petrus Bertius (1565-1629)

Petrus Bertius (Pieter Bert) was a renowned Flemish (Beveren) historian, theologian and geographer. His father was a Protestant preacher and his family fled to London around 1568. The young Bertius attended the University of Leiden in 1577. He became tutor, subregent and regent in 1606. His theological views and publications of the Hymenaeus desertor brought him into conflict with authorities like Johan van Oldenbarnevelt and Willem Lodewijk, among others. Bertius eventually lost his academic position and was also no longer allowed to give private lessons. That is why he left for France in 1618, Bertius became cosmographer and historian for Louis XIII of France. In 1620 he converted to the Catholic Church, and became professor of rhetoric at the Collège de Boncourt, a part of the University of Paris. In 1622 Louis XIII set up a new personal chair in mathematical sciences in the royal college for Bertius, and granted him the title of royal historian. Bertius died in Paris in 1629.

Petrus Bertius’s remarkable work ethic is evident in the numerous geographical and theological works he produced. By a marriage of the sister of Petrus Kearius with Jodocus Hondius, both famous cartographers were brother-in-law of Petrus Bertius. In 1600 Cornelis Claesz published the pocket atlas Tabularum Geographicarum with latin text by Bertius in Amsterdam. The origin of this work lies in the well known Caert-Thresoor published by Langenes in 1598. A large number of the original 169 maps were engraved by Petrus Kaerius. The Tabularum Geographicarum was published subsequently by Cornelis Claesz, Jodocus Hondius, Johannes Janssonius and ultimately, in 1649, by Claes Jansz. Visscher. In 1616, the Commentariorum Rerum Germanicarum was published in Amsterdam by Johannes Janssonius. The book with Bertius’ extensive description of the Holy Roman Empire and more than 130 new plates was not a success, probably due to the outbreak of the Thirty Years’ War in the Empire. In 1618 Jodocus Hondius (jr) published Theatrum Geographiae Veteris in Amsterdam, composed by Bertius. It was the reissue of Mercators Ptolemy and Ortelius’ Parergon.

Johannes Janssonius (1588 – 1664)

Johannes Janssonius was a famous Dutch cartographer, printer and publisher. In 1612 he married Elisabeth Hondius, daughter of Jodocus Hondius. Under the leadership of Janssonius the publishing house was expanded into one of the largest of that time with branches in Berlin, Frankfurt, Geneva, Lyon and Stockholm, among others. Under Janssonius’ leadership, the Mercator-Hondius Atlas was expanded and published as Atlas Novus (1636-1658). Initially consisting of one volume, this edition soon became an atlas consisting of several volumes, supplemented on request with nautical and/or sky charts. At the end of the seventeenth century, the publishing house of Petrus Schenk and Gerard Valk took over the publishing house from Nicolaes Visscher II and also bought a large number of copper plates from the Janssonius publishing house.