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Map, Greece, Macedonian Empire of Alexander the Great, Jansson, Antique Print, Amsterdam, c. 1652-1662 (Sold)

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Jan Jansson (1596-1664) (engraver and publisher)
Alexandri Magni Macedonis Expeditio
[Alexander the Great’s Macedonian Empire]
from Accuratissima orbis Antiqui Delineatio
Jan Jansson, Amsterdam: c. 1652-1662
Hand-colored engraving
14.5 x 18.5 inches, image
16.5 x 20.5 inches, overall

A historical map of the Macedonian Empire of Alexander the Great (356 B.C. – 323 B.C.),  a region conquered by the great Greek general that extended from Greece and the Mediteranean and Aegean Seas east to India. The map is labeled in Latin and shows place names, seas, and rivers. Cities and mountain ranges are indicated pictorially and rivers taper as they reach inland. Two larger illustrations also embellish the map — the title cartouche shows Alexander crowned with laurel leaves and accompanied by three soldiers gathered around a stone monument with the map title, spears arrayed behind them. The second illustration, lower right, depicts a soldier and putto leaning on a monument decorated with two coins that show Alexander in profile and an allegorical winged figure.

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Description

This map is generally attributed as being issued as part of Jansson’s Accuratissima Orbis Antiqui Delineatio, an atlas of over 50 plates of the classical world and ancient Israel published in several editions between 1652 and about 1700. The map apparently was also published as part of other atlases. The offered map has Latin text printed verso on page 147, with the same Latin title as the cartouche. Another example of this map, in the collection of the Yale University has the same cartouche title, but with a Dutch title and text on the back indicating a different edition; according to Yale that example was published c. 1662.

Jan Jansson was a contemporary and rival of the Dutch mapmaker Willem Janszoon Blaeu during the 17th century, when Amsterdam was a major European center for the production of maps. He produced maps of France and Italy in 1616 and an edition of Ptolemy’s Geography in 1617. He was also an accomplished globe maker; Jansson and Jodocus Hondius II produced a 17-inch terrestrial globe in 1623, with subsequent states as late as 1648. Jansson married the sister of mapmaker Henry Hondius and with him co-published the second volume of the Mercator-Hondius Atlas in 1633. Upon Hondius’ death around 1650, Jansson took over his business. Jansson also published numerous other volumes of maps and atlases from 1638, including his reissue of Braun and Hogenberg’s Civitates Orbis Terrarum in 1657. His business was later acquired by Peter Schenk, who republished his major atlas about 1683.

References:

“Alexandri Magni Macedonis expeditio.” Beinecke Library, Yale University.https://collections.library.yale.edu/catalog/15506422 (7 January 2022).

Tooley, R.V. Maps and Map-Makers. 4th Ed. New York: Bonanza Books, 1970. pp. 25-26, 33-34.

Wallbank, Frank W. “Alexander the Great, King of Macedonia.” Britannica. 2022. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alexander-the-Great/Evaluation (5 January 2022).

Additional information

Century

17th Century