Johann Baptist Homann (1663 – 1724)
Profile :
Following the long period of Dutch domination in the field of Cartography, the Homann family became the most important map publishers in Germany in the eighteenth century. The business being founded by J.B. Homann in Nuremberg about the year 1702.
Soon after publishing his first atlas in 1707 he became a member of the Berlin academy of Sciences and in 1715 he was appointed Geographer to the Emperor. After the founder’s death in 1724, the firm was continued under the direction of his son until 1730 and was then bequeathed to his heirs on the condition that it trades under the name of Homann Heirs. The firm remained in being until the next century and had a wide influence on map publishing in Germany. Apart from the atlases the firm published a very large number of individual maps.
The Homman’s produced a Neuer Atlas in 1714, a Grosser Atlas in 1737, and an Atlas Maior with about 300 maps in 1780. They also issued a special Atlas of Germany with full sized plans of principal cities, school atlases and an Atlas of Silesia in 1750 with 20 maps.
Johann Baptist Homann (2)
1720 J B Homann Large Original Antique Map of Norway - Regni Norvegiae
- Title : Regni Norvegiae Accurata Tabula in qua Praefecturae Quinque Generales Aggerhusiensis, Bergensis Nidrosiensis, Wardhusiensis et Bahusiensi Ioh. Bapt. Homanno.
- Date : 1720
- Condition: (A+) Fine Condition
- Ref: 93359
- Size: 24in x 20 1/4in (610mm x 540mm)
Description: This large beautifully hand coloured original antique map of Norway & parts of Scandinavia - with an inset map of Lapland & Northern Norway - was published by Johann Baptist Homann in 1720.
Condition Report:
Paper thickness and quality: - Heavy and stable
Paper color: - Off white
Age of map color: - Original
Colors used: - Yellow, pink, green
General color appearance: - Authentic
Paper size: - 24in x 20 1/4in (610mm x 540mm)
Plate size: - 23 1/2in x 20in (595mm x 505mm)
Margins: - Min 1/2in (12mm)
Imperfections:
Margins: - None
Plate area: - None
Verso: - None
Background: Before the fifteenth century the peoples of Southern Europe had little geographical knowledge of the Scandinavian world except from sketchy detail shown in the Catalan Atlas (1375) and on a number of 'portolani' embracing Denmark and the southern tip of Norway. It was not until 1427 that a manuscript map prepared about that time by Claudius Clavus (b. 1388), a Dane who had spent some time in Rome, made available to scholars a tolerable outline of the northern countries and Greenland. That was to remain the best map available for the rest of the century and it was used as the basis for maps of Scandinavia in early printed editions of Ptolemy. Others by Nicolaus Cusanus (1491) and Ehrhard Etzlaub (c. 1492) followed but, needless to say, these are extremely rare; even the later maps by Olaus Magnus and Marcus Jordan, where they have survived at all, are known only by very few examples. In fact, apart from the rare appearance of an early Ptolemy map, the oldest of Scandinavia which a collector is likely to find are those in Munster's Cosmography published in 1544 with many later editions. In the following centuries the comparatively few maps and charts compiled in Scandinavia were usually published in Amsterdam, Antwerp, Paris or Nuremberg, the more important maps often being incorporated in the major Dutch, French and German atlases. (Ref: Tooley; M&B)
1720 J B Homann Large Original Antique Map of Norway - Regni Norvegiae
- Title : Regni Norvegiae Accurata Tabula in qua Praefecturae Quinque Generales Aggerhusiensis, Bergensis Nidrosiensis, Wardhusiensis et Bahusiensi Ioh. Bapt. Homanno.
- Date : 1720
- Condition: (A) Very Good Condition
- Ref: 16424
- Size: 24in x 20 1/4in (610mm x 515mm)
Description: This large beautifully hand coloured original antique map of Norway & parts of Scandinavia - with an inset map of Lapland & Northern Norway - was published by Johann Baptist Homann in 1720.
Background: Before the fifteenth century the peoples of Southern Europe had little geographical knowledge of the Scandinavian world except from sketchy detail shown in the Catalan Atlas (1375) and on a number of 'portolani' embracing Denmark and the southern tip of Norway. It was not until 1427 that a manuscript map prepared about that time by Claudius Clavus (b. 1388), a Dane who had spent some time in Rome, made available to scholars a tolerable outline of the northern countries and Greenland. That was to remain the best map available for the rest of the century and it was used as the basis for maps of Scandinavia in early printed editions of Ptolemy. Others by Nicolaus Cusanus (1491) and Ehrhard Etzlaub (c. 1492) followed but, needless to say, these are extremely rare; even the later maps by Olaus Magnus and Marcus Jordan, where they have survived at all, are known only by very few examples. In fact, apart from the rare appearance of an early Ptolemy map, the oldest of Scandinavia which a collector is likely to find are those in Munster's Cosmography published in 1544 with many later editions. In the following centuries the comparatively few maps and charts compiled in Scandinavia were usually published in Amsterdam, Antwerp, Paris or Nuremberg, the more important maps often being incorporated in the major Dutch, French and German atlases. (Ref: Tooley; M&B)
Condition Report:
Paper thickness and quality: - Heavy and stable
Paper color: - Off white
Age of map color: - Original & later
Colors used: - Yellow, pink, green
General color appearance: - Authentic
Paper size: - 24in x 20 1/4in (610mm x 515mm)
Plate size: - 23 1/2in x 20in (595mm x 505mm)
Margins: - Min 1/8in (2mm)
Imperfections:
Margins: - Left margin cropped to plate-mark
Plate area: - Light creasing
Verso: - Centerfold re-joined, small re-enforced adjacent to centerfold
