Doncker, Hendrik

[De Zee-Atlas ofte Water-Waereld, vertoonende alle de Zee-Kusten van het bekende deel des Aerd-Bodems.]

[Doncker, Hendrick. De Zee-Atlas ofte Water-Waereld, vertoonende alle de Zee-Kusten van het bekende deel des Aerd-Bodems. Amsterdam: Hendrick Doncker, 1669?].

Folio (18” x 12”, 456mm x 305mm): engraved title-page (without letterpress, rough but contemporary color), A-C² [$1 signed]. 12 leaves, pp. 13–24. With 34 hand-colored (outlined) engraved double-page maps. The first map is the double-hemisphere map by de Wit (1660) with elaborate borders, vignettes and decorative elements. All mounted on guards. (all but one (no. 9, De Cust van Vlaenderen) laid down on heavier stock, some early marginal repairs).

Bound in contemporary deerskin covering modern boards (endpapers and mounts renewed) with a turquoise morocco title-label gilt (“ATLAS”) to the front cover. With loose-hanging edges.

Modern support with the contemporary deerskin overlaid. Deerskin torn and stained. All but one of the maps (no. 9, De Cust van Vlaenderen) backed onto heavier stock. Some early marginal repairs and some later reinforcement of the peripheries of the text and plates. Maps numbered lightly in pencil on the reverse (these are used as the map numbers below).

     Maps included

     1-6.      Per register 1-6
     7.         De Custen van Noorwegen, Finmarken, Laplandt, Spitsbergen… [1660]
     8.         De Cust van Zeelandt [1669]
     9.         De Cust van Vlaenderen [1669]
[Lacking register 7 (Spitsbergen en Yslandt)]
     10-21. Per register 8–19
     22.       De Cust van Barbaryen and 4 others [1665]
     23.       Canarische Eylanden (1664) [issued 1655]
     24-34. Per register 20-30.

First published in 1659 with 19 maps and frequently re-issued, updated and augmented through to the 1669 edition (boasting some 50 maps), Doncker’s Zee-Atlas set the standard for up-to-date maritime cartography. Doncker was involved in all aspects (save the exploration); his maps are principally his own; he printed, published and sold the books at his own shop. Doncker reinvigorated the Dutch tradition of sea-atlases after Colom.  

Because it lacks the letterpress of the title-page, it is difficult to say with confidence the date of the present copy. The letterpress portion collates perfect with Koeman’s Don 8 B. The earliest (dated) map is 1658, the latest are from 1669. The register at the end of the text (C2^v, p. 24) calls for 30 maps. Koeman’s Don 8 B calls for those thirty maps plus the insertion of the two maps numbered 22 and 23. The present copy lacks the register’s map 7 (Spitsbergen en Yslandt). There are in addition three maps, numbered 7-9, one from 1660 (Don 3) and two from 1669 (Don 13). The 1660 map includes Spitsbergen, and so perhaps in the mind of the assembler replaced the register’s map 7. With Doncker doubtless present at the shop where this atlas was bought, there must have been a degree of pick-and-mix based on what was available, desirable or affordable.

Koeman IV: Don 3, 8 B & 13. 

Item #6JLR0009

Price: $125,000