Siciliæ Veteris Typus: Jansson 1630

Image] Product ID: 224006 This exquisite hand-colored antique map published by Jansson in 1630 depicts the Island of Sicily during the Roman era. The map is adorned with intricately engraved depictions of sea monsters and gods of antiquity. An enlarged map of Syracuse is inset at the top left. In 1604, Jodocus Hondius, an Amsterdam map and instrument maker with a reputation for his magnificent wall maps, purchased the plates to Gerard Mercator‘s Atlas. Within two years, he had issued new editions of the great master’s works, continuing to publish updated and expanded versions of the Atlas for a number of years. When Hondius died in 1612, his flourishing publishing house was inherited jointly by his sons Jodocus II and Henricus, and by his son-in-law Jan Jansson. These three continued to expand and issue editions of the Atlas, and in 1635 began planning for a totally new work. In 1638, Jansson assumed control of the firm and issued his Atlas Novus, which, though based on Mercator's concepts, was executed according to Jansson’s own ideas. The new work enjoyed a reputation almost equal to that of Mercator‘s, and continued to be published after Jansson’s death in 1664.