ORTELIUS – LANGENES – CLAESZ – MALTA  – 1598

Description

[ORTELIUS, Abraham] – LANGENES, Barent – CLAESZ, Cornelis

Title of Map: MALTA

Engraver: Jadocus Hondius I & Petrus Kaerius

Author: Jodocus Hondius, the Elder, Bernardt Langenes.

Title: CAERT-THRESOOR

Place: Middelburg

Year: 1598

Engraving size: 86 x 124mm

Printing method: copper engraving

Notes: In 1582, Cornelis Claesz (1551-1609) established the Int Vergulde Schryfboeck bookshop at this address. As a publisher of nautical charts, he laid the basis for the work of the famous Amsterdam cartographers such as Blaeu (Damrak 46), Janssonius (nr. 47) and Hondius (on the Dam Square). The publisher and bookseller Cornelis Claesz was born in Leuven (Belgium) and had a bookshop on Damrak. His Protestant parents had fled from Leuven to Emden from where the young Cornelis travelled via Cologne to Enkhuizen. He only settled in Amsterdam in 1578 when a Protestant city council was established. In this period Amsterdam grew to become the information centre of Europe. Cornelis Claesz’ bookshop on Damrak was within easy reach of merchants and sailors and he kept them up to date on the latest news and discoveries and sold spectacular travel journals, like Willem Barentsz’ account of his travels to Nova Zembla. The nautical and celestial charts he published were even more important and helped the skippers start their voyages with the information they needed. The books and charts in the shop were piled up high in wooden cabinets. Cornelis Claesz also sold illustrations from well known artists like Albrecht Dürer. As a bookseller Cornelis was a member of the Guild of Saint Luke which was also the association for painters. After his death in 1609 Cornelis was buried in the Oude Kerk (old church). Many maps were engraved by Kaerius and broke away from the Ortelian tradition. Many date from the 1590s and were derived from Portuguese and Dutch sources. This is the 1st Bertius ed of Langenes’ Caert Threzoor with a new text which comprised a geographical description of the world in latin by this scholar (1565-1629) who later became cosmographer to the king of France. Published by Cornelis Claesz. map already on mounting board prepared for framing