Terra Sancta

Iconic 17th century map of the Holy Land from the Nile Delta to Tripoli with north being shown to the right of the sheet.

Due to their reputation as the one of the, if not the greatest of all the map makers of the Dutch Golden Age of Cartography, this map has become one of the best known cartographic images of the Holy Land. It had a long publishing history, originally appearing in Blaeu’s “Atlantis Appendix” of 1630, then through various editions of the “Atlas Novus” and finally in the “Atlas Major” the last edition of which appeared in 1672.

Blaeu originally sourced this map from the widow of Jodocus Hondius the Younger. Hondius had been revising and augmenting several maps which were initially published by his father, also called Jodocus Hondius. Many of those maps were based on Gerhard Mercator and contemporaneous to the late 16th century.

That being said, the main source that the younger Hondius used was an extremely rare wall map published by Peter Laicksteen and Christian Scrooten. Laicksteen provided the topographical information, having travelled to the Holy Land in 1556 and their map was drawn around 1560. The main source used by Hondius was a large inset within the map which shows the Holy Land at the time of Moses. Hence, the route of the Exodus and the Wondering of the Jews is marked, while the two figures flanking the cartouche depict Moses on the left and Aaron on the right.

The date on the map, 1629, is curious. Hondius died that year, with Blaeu issuing his “Atlantis Appendix” the following year, which featured most of the thirty four plates that Blaeu purchased from Hondius’ widow. The date on the map stays constant throughout the Blaeu atlas editions, suggesting that this was probably the engraving date already on the plate or added along with Blaeu’s name in the space where Hondius’ name would normally be placed.

This example has Latin text on the reverse and the earliest edition with this feature was issued in 1635, however the typography on the reverse of this example suggests that it was published in 1640.

Image of the reverse available on request. Original colour. [MEAST4810]