1638 / 1662 Blaeu Map of the American Coast from Virginia to Florida

This is Willem Blaeu's beautiful map of Virginia and Florida, engraved in 1638 and appearing here in a superb example of the 1662 Atlas Maior edition, printed for Joan Blaeu's mammoth masterpiece atlas. This classic Dutch map, which encompassed the Carolinas and what would become Georgia and part of Florida, has been called 'the most correct map of this area yet to appear.' (Cumming)

The Map and its Sources

In terms of its scope, Blaeu's work covers the same region presented in the 1606 Jodocus Hondius Virginia Item et Floridae, but it improves greatly in the detail of the coastline. While the Hondius relied on the geographic models presented in the John White and Le Moyne maps of the end of the 16th century, Blaeu's map applied to this region the new cartographic data provided in the far superior, c. 1631 charts of Hessel Gerritz - most notably improving the delineation of the Outer Banks of the Carolinas, and the mouth of Chesapeake Bay. While many of the place names still derive from earlier maps, there are important advances: the settlement in 1621 of Newport News appeared on Blaeu's map for the first time, for example. Areas in the interior still appear to rely heavily the 1591 Le Moyne map - in particular the large Appalachian lake advertising the presence of native-gathered silver.

A Long Tale of French and English Colonial Rivalry

The contesting claims to this stretch of American coast by the English and French not only appear in this map, but are inherent to the map's earliest precedents. Despite the much-improved coastlines after Gerritz, the core of the map's Virginia/Florida division has its roots in the two De Bry maps of these regions, and these were expressly maps of an English Colony (Virginia) and the French efforts to colonize further south (Florida). Both of these two regions bear coats of arms associating them with the two relevant colonizing powers. Elements such as the doomed fortress built by Laudonnière in 1562 in French Florida (and destroyed in 1565 by Pedro Menéndez de Avilés) further advertise the map's lineage.

Classic Dutch Decorative Elements

The engraving epitomizes Blaeu's clear and legible style, while not neglecting the decorative elements which characterize his finest maps. Mountains and forests are rendered pictorially. The elegant cartouche is flanked by six Native American figures. The English coat of arms is displayed in the region of Virginia, whilst the French arms are shown reflecting that nation's efforts to colonize Florida in the 1560s. The sea areas are embellished with two fine compass roses, and three sailing ships. A banner displaying the scale in German miles is suspended between a pair of bat-winged, fish-tailed mer-putti.

Close Copies by Fierce Competitors

The publication of this map in the 1638-40 French issue of Blaeu's Appendix puts it ever-so-narrowly ahead of the cartographically virtually identical map printed by Blaeu's primary competitor, Jansson, in 1639. The two maps are very frequently mistaken for one another, due to the lack of printer's imprint on either. There are telltales which identify the Blaeu clearly. First, the tribal names 'Powhatan.' and 'Secotan.' in the region of Virginia are printed followed with full stops, the punctuation lacking in the Jansson. There is as well an error in the Blaeu not present in his competitor's map: in the lower right of the Blaeu, the sequence of longitude reads '298, 299, 200' whilst the Jansson map has this corrected to '298, 299, 300.' We are aware of examples of the Jansson on the market now, misidentified as Blaeu.

Publication History and Census

This map was engraved by Willem Blaeu, first appearing in the 1638 French edition of his Appendice. Thereafter it appeared in every edition of the Blaeu Atlas Novus, and as well in Joan Blaeu's Atlas Maior. There are two states of this plate that have been identified, of which this is the second (the left-hand mer-putti holding the scale cartouche has a fish-tail visible behind him and to the left which the first state lacks.) The verso text of this second-state example corresponds typographically to the 1662 Latin edition of the Atlas Maior, which corresponds as well to the superb paper quality and the broad margins present here. The separate map, in its many editions, is well-represented in institutional collections although it should be noted that the map is frequently misidentified as the Jansson, and vice-versa. There are eight examples in OCLC corresponding to the Atlas Maior.