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1746 / 1754 Homann Heirs Map of North America and South America
Americae-homannheirs-1746-2$1,500.00
Title
Americae Mappa Generalis.
1746 (dated) 19 x 21 in (48.26 x 53.34 cm) 1 : 35000000
1746 (dated) 19 x 21 in (48.26 x 53.34 cm) 1 : 35000000
Description
This is an elegant 1746 map of the Americas, prepared for Homann Heirs by the mathematicians and geographers Johann Matthias Hase and A. Gottlob Böhme. The present example includes a color key indicating the dominant religions on the map, a feature unique to an extremely rare 1754 edition of the work.
The title cartouche in the lower left depicts two erupting volcanoes and several American Indians, one of which holds aloft a shrunken head.
A Closer Look
The map's format, with a decorative and dramatic cartouche, is reminiscent of 17th-century mapping - but its geography is modern. In North America, the Great Lakes reflect the work of De l'Isle (not Charlevoix, whose phantom islands are not to be found here.) The Mississippi is accurate. The Pacific Northwest is largely unexplored, but nonetheless, the mythical Northwest Passage is shown.Religious Spheres of Influence
This specific edition of the map is unusual in having, in the bottom margin, a printed, paste-down color key identifying religious affiliations. We have not handled the America map with the color key paste-down, but we have seen this on the Hase / Homann Heirs map of the continent of Africa, and we know that Hase had published the full set of continental maps with this treatment. Thus, some of the religions on the key - 'Mohammedisch,' for example, and 'Griechisch' - are left blank. Studying the colors on the map with respect to the key, one can see that in South America, most of the continent is Roman Catholic, but with 'Heidnisch' (heathen) in the extreme south and in the interior of Brazil and the Amazon. Reformed Protestant enclaves - evidence of the Dutch efforts - can also be seen. In North America, the English-dominated east coast is classified Evangelisch Reformert while the French and Spanish interior is marked Roman Catholic. Northwest of that Catholic zone, all is marked 'heathen.' Meanwhile, the Lutherans get Greenland.The title cartouche in the lower left depicts two erupting volcanoes and several American Indians, one of which holds aloft a shrunken head.
Publication History and Census
We are aware of several states of this map, but these are incompletely recorded, and much is left to conjecture. Since all states of the map bear the same date of 1746, most listings in OCLC and dealers' catalogs apply that date without respect to state changes. Based on Sandler's cartobibliography of the maps of Homann and Homann Heirs, it appears that Hase produced editions of the four continents in a religious context in 1754. Given the unusual presence of the appended color key of religions here, we assing it to that date. However, no OCLC listings mention of the color key, and we see no similar examples of the map on the market, so it must be concluded that this variant is rare.CartographerS
Johann Baptist Homann (March 20, 1664 - July 1, 1724) was the most prominent and prolific map publisher of the 18th century. Homann was born in Oberkammlach, a small town near Kammlach, Bavaria, Germany. As a young man, Homann studied in a Jesuit school and nursed ambitions of becoming a Dominican priest. Nonetheless, he converted to Protestantism in 1687, when he was 23. It is not clear where he mastered engraving, but we believe it may have been in Amsterdam. Homann's earliest work we have identified is about 1689, and already exhibits a high degree of mastery. Around 1691, Homann moved to Nuremberg and registered as a notary. By this time, he was already making maps, and very good ones at that. He produced a map of the environs of Nürnberg in 1691/92, which suggests he was already a master engraver. Around 1693, Homann briefly relocated to Vienna, where he lived and studied printing and copper plate engraving until 1695. Until 1702, he worked in Nuremberg in the map trade under Jacob von Sandrart (1630 - 1708) and then David Funck (1642 - 1709). Afterward, he returned to Nuremberg, where, in 1702, he founded the commercial publishing firm that would bear his name. In the next five years, Homann produced hundreds of maps and developed a distinctive style characterized by heavy, detailed engraving, elaborate allegorical cartouche work, and vivid hand color. Due to the lower cost of printing in Germany, the Homann firm could undercut the dominant French and Dutch publishing houses while matching their diversity and quality. By 1715, Homann's rising star caught the attention of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI, who appointed him Imperial Cartographer. In the same year, he was also appointed a member of the Royal Academy of Sciences in Berlin. Homann's prestigious title came with several significant advantages, including access to the most up-to-date cartographic information as well as the 'Privilege'. The Privilege was a type of early copyright offered to very few by the Holy Roman Emperor. Though less sophisticated than modern copyright legislation, the Privilege offered limited protection for several years. Most all J. B. Homann maps printed between 1715 and 1730 bear the inscription 'Cum Priviligio' or some variation. Following Homann's death in 1724, the firm's map plates and management passed to his son, Johann Christoph Homann (1703 - 1730). J. C. Homann, perhaps realizing that he would not long survive his father, stipulated in his will that the company would be inherited by his two head managers, Johann Georg Ebersberger (1695 - 1760) and Johann Michael Franz (1700 - 1761), and that it would publish only under the name 'Homann Heirs'. This designation, in various forms (Homannsche Heirs, Heritiers de Homann, Lat Homannianos Herod, Homannschen Erben, etc.) appears on maps from about 1731 onwards. The firm continued to publish maps in ever-diminishing quantities until the death of its last owner, Christoph Franz Fembo (1781 - 1848). More by this mapmaker...
Johann Matthias Hase (January 14, 1684 - September 24, 1742) was a German cartographer, historical geographer, mathematician, and astronomer. Born in Augsburg, Hase was the son of a mathematics teacher, thus exhibited skill at mathematics early in life. He began attending the University of Helmstedt in 1701, where he studied mathematics under Rudolf Christian Wagner and then moved to the University of Leipzig to pursue a master's degree. He received his master's in 1707 and promptly returned to Augsburg to work as a teacher. However, he soon returned to Leipzig to serve as court master for two Augsburg patricians. There he became increasingly involved with geography, astronomy, and cartography as adjunct to the philosophical faculty. Hase was recommended for the position of chair of higher mathematics at the University of Wittenberg by his former professor, Christian Wolff, in 1715, but he was rejected. Five years later in 1720, however, he was named Professor of Mathematics at the University of Wittenberg. It is unclear exactly when Hase began working with the Homann Heirs firm, but he Hase compiled numerous maps under that imprint. He was also a prolific writer, publishing several treatises on universal history. Learn More...
Bohm was a German mathematician and engraver employed in Nuremberg by the map firm of Homann Heirs. Learn More...
Condition
Very good. Small marginal mend not impacting printed image. Original wash color.
References
OCLC 165888357 (1746). cf Rumsey 12138.039 (1746). cf Phillips, Lee Philip, A List of Geographical Atlases in the Library of Congress, page 44.