Lot #: 49052

(China Atlas) Novus Atlas Sinensis, A Matino Martinio... Seste Deel van de Nieuwe Atlas, oft Toonneel des Aerdrijck, Uytgegeven door Joan Blaeu.

Maker / Publisher:		BLAEU, J.
Place & Date:		Amsterdam, 1655
Colored:		In original colors.
Size:		545 x 365 mm / 21.5 x 14.4 inches
Condition:		Large Folio (545x365mm). Publisher's gilt vellum. A few leaves or maps very slightly spotted or lightly browned, as usual. Paste-on slip on title page wanting. Maps generally quite clean. Very large paper example.

$15000 / ≈ €13803

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Description

Dutch text edition of the First European Atlas of China. 17 engraved maps in original hand-color, and engraved title pages in original hand-color, heightened in gold. [6], 213, [19], xviii, 40 pages of text in Dutch.

There is only one Dutch text edition of the atlas, including sixteen engraved maps of China and Chinese provinces and one general map of Japan, all in beautiful original outline hand-color.

The present work is based on Father Martinus Martini, the Jesuit Superior of Hangzhou, 's surveying and compiling work.

The seventeen maps are noteworthy not only for their accuracy, remarkable for the time, but also for their highly decorative cartouches featuring vignettes depicting regional Chinese dress, activities, and animals. In addition, it is one of the first true Sino-European publications, based on Chinese land surveys but presenting geographic data in a highly visual European cartographic format. - Reed & Demattè.

The title page has a facade with an opening giving a view of a landscape. In the foreground putti with a map and a globe, both of which exhibit a map of China. At the top a fronton, with a panel, where the title label was to be pasted. (Similar to an example of this atlas in the libriry of Nijmegen the letterpress label is wanting.

In 1654, in the foreword to the Dutch edition of the Atlas of Scotland, Joan Blaeu announced that he was preparing town books of Italy, a volume of charts, and a volume of historical maps and that these were delayed.

But while he was working on these volumes, wrote Blaeu:Father Martinus Martini had come from the Indies, bringing with him his sketches and descriptions of the Chinese empire. Martini persisted in his attempt to have Blaeu engraved and published these, so Blaeu postponed the work on the other volumes to prepare the Atlas of China and published it about a year later.

Martinus Martini (1614-1661) began working in 1642 as a Jesuit missionary in various provinces of China. When he was ordered to Rome in 1651, he took with him more than 50 Chinese books and maps, among them a copy of the manuscript atlas of the Chinese provinces by Zhu Siben, compiled in 1311/12, with revisions from the printed atlas by Lo Hongxian (1555).

Martini's ship was captured by the Dutch and brought to Java. Martini was sent to Amsterdam where he arrived in 1654. During the voyage to Europe aboard the Dutch East-Indiamen, Martini made a Latin translation of the text and wrote his own description of China.

In 1659, Joan Blaeu published the Latin translation, "Sinicae historiae decas prima", separately without maps.

The text in Blaeu's atlas of China is Martini's own account, written in the first person, of the geography and history, the manners and customs of the Chinese empire and its peoples.

Martini's atlas of China includes the following parts:
1. A lengthy preface by Martinus Martini with an explanation of how he compiled his maps from the Chinese originals.
2. A general map of China (map 1).
3. A geographical description of the 15 provinces of China, each description preceded by a map of that province (maps 2-16).
4. A geographical description of Japan with a map (map 17).
5. The "Catalogus Longitudinum ac Latitudinem," a list of towns with their geographical coordinates.
6. A supplement to the geographical description by Jacob Golius, "De Regno Catayo Additamentum lacobus Golius Lectori."

7. A history of the Manshu War by Martinus Martini, "De Bello Tartarico Historia," originally published in 1654 in Antwerp, with an additional letter by Francisco Brancaro from Shanghai, 14 November 1651.

Joan Blaeu published the Atlas of China in five different languages: Latin, French, Dutch, German, and Spanish. It was published separately and added as the sixth volume to the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, the only difference being in the engraved title page.

Title page (v.d.Krogt 2:26A) which was used for the Theatrum edition, has a blank panel for the letterpress volume title.

Another title page was used for the separate editions of the atlas.

Both title pages have the title of the atlas and the author's name in Latin, but strangely enough, the publisher's name does not appear on the title page or anywhere else in the volume.

The volume was later bound up with the other maps and text of Asia to form the Asia volume of the Atlas Maior.

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