Biographies of Some of the More Famous Cartographers
We offer below brief biographies of those mapmakers more often encountered. It is our intention to add to these pages on a regular basis, so we hope that you will 'book-mark' them for future reference.Georg BRAUN & Frans HOGENBERG
Braun compiled the accompanying text, printed on the reverse of the engraved sheets, while the plans were engraved by Hogenberg, who had also prepared some of the maps for Ortelius’ Theatrum. Hogenberg used generally up-to-date and accurate maps, surveys and reports from local sources to compile this collection of plans and bird’s-eye views of all the major towns of Europe, some African, Middle Eastern and Indian towns, and the New World cities of Mexico and Cusco. One of the major contributors was Georg (or Joris) Hoefnagel, who supplied some 63 manuscript drawings, the vast majority from personal observation.
It is to Hogenberg’s credit that, despite the many different sources from which this vast collection of plans was assembled, he managed to create a sense of uniformity among the completed engravings. While this has much to do with his own style, he also relied on a standard formula, inserting appropriate coats of arms and, in the foreground, attractive drawings of inhabitants of the region, in local costume.
Plans from the series may be found in colour, or black and white, but if in original colour this may frequently be heavily and rather unattractively applied.
The HONDIUS FAMILY
Jodocus Hondius I(1563-1612) was one of the foremost map engravers of his day; he worked for many Dutch publishers and was also employed by the English map- and print-sellers, Sudbury and Humble, to engrave the maps for John Speed’s “The Theatre Of The Empire Of Great Britaine”, published in 1612. Hondius married Coletta van den Keere (sister of Pieter van de Keere – also heavily involved in the map trade) thus strengthening his links with the map world at this time.
Having settled in the relatively stable Amsterdam, Hondius bought the copperplates of Mercator’s “Atlas Sive Cosmographicae ...” at the auction of Gerard Jr.’s effects in 1604. He added another forty maps, including new maps of the continents and important regional maps of the Americas, before publishing a new edition of the “Atlas ...” in 1606 that was in direct competition with Ortelius’ “Theatrum”. As many of Hondius’ maps were more up-to-date, the Mercator-Hondius “Atlas ...” effectively superseded Ortelius’ “Theatrum”.
Jodocus also had the plates of the “Atlas ...” reduced at this time in order to publish them in the “Atlas Minor” that first appeared in 1607. Cornelis Clasz and Johannes Janssonius of Arnhem (the elder Janssonius) were the publishers involved in this ‘miniature’ endeavour.
On Jodocus’ death in 1612 his widow, Coletta van den Keere, continued the business. In the same year his daughter Elisabeth married Joannes Janssonius who was also to be involved with the family business and the publishing of the “Atlas ...” at this time.
Henricus and Jodocus II were sons of Jodocus I. From 1619 the “Atlas ...” was published under the Henricus Hondius imprint. Henricus appears to have been heavily involved in the “Atlas ...” from 1619 until 1633 when his brother-in-law’s name and imprint, that of Johannes Janssonius, also started appearing on the “Atlas ...” After 1636 the name of the “Atlas ...” was changed to “Atlas Novus” with Janssonius being responsible, in the main, for its publication.
Jodocus II set up his own premises and published a number of individual maps of his own as well as the Bertius atlas, “Tabularaum Geographicarum” in 1618. Jodocus II died in 1629 and his own stock of printing plates passed to Willem Jansz. Blaeu, a competitor of all the Hondius family, and these plates formed the backbone of the first terrestrial Blaeu atlases. From 1630 onwards Blaeu issued the “Atlas Appendix “and other atlases, which were a direct challenge to the Hondius activity at this time.
Sources:
I.C.Koeman, Atlantes Neerlandici Volume II, pp.136-145.
CAMDEN'S BRITANNIA : William HOLE : William KIP
This failing was remedied in the sixth edition of 1607 for which maps were commissioned from William Kip and William Hole. Drawing on the surveys of Christopher Saxton, John Norden and the Anonymous/William Smith series, they produced a series of 57 maps. The maps are clearly engraved, often with decorative cartouches displaying ships and sea monsters. These maps form an attractive and popular series. A number are the earliest individual maps of some counties that can be obtained - although the maps are predated by those of the Saxton atlas, first published in 1579 and now very rare, Saxton frequently combined counties on one sheet, rather than mapping them separately and Kip and Hole did.
Three editions of the Kip and Hole maps may be found; the first is identifiable by Latin verso text, the second (1610) lacks text while the third (1637) displays an engraved plate number. Such was the popularity of the Britannia with its history and nature of the English and Welsh counties, that the work was re-published under the editorship of Edmund Gibson in 1695 (and then 1722, c.1730, 1753 and 1772) with maps by Robert Morden. Richard Gough (1735-1809), the celebrated English collector and onetime Director of the Society of Antiquaries, also edited a 1789 edition of the Britannia with maps by John Cary.
The frequency with which the Britannia was re-printed and the number of editions, under different editors, with maps by different mapmakers bears testament to the success and popularity of the work.