Johannes Jansson (1588 - 1664)
Profile :
Johannes Janssonius, more commonly known to us as Jan Jansson, was born in Arnhem where his father was a bookseller and publisher (Jan Janszoon the Elder).
In 1612 he married the daughter of the cartographer and publisher Jodocus Hondius, and then set up in business in Amsterdam as a book publisher. In 1616 he published his first maps of France and Italy and from then onwards he produced a very large number of maps, perhaps not quite rivaling those of the Blaeu family but running a very close second in quantity and quality.
From about 1630 to 1638 he was in partnership with his brother-in-law, Henricus Hondius, issuing further editions of the Mercator/Hondius atlases to which his name was added. On the death of Henricus he took over the business, expanding the atlas still further, until eventually he published an 11-volume Atlas Major on a scale similar to Blaeu's Atlas Major.
The first full edition of Jansson's English County Maps was published in 1646 but some years earlier he issued a number of British maps in the Mercator/Hondius/Jansson series of atlases (1636-44); the maps were printed from newly engraved plates and are different from the later 1646 issue and are now rarely seen (see Appendix B for further details). In general appearance Jansson's maps are very similar to those of Blaeu and, in fact, were often copied from them, but they tend to be more flamboyant and decorative.
After Jansson's death his heirs published a number of maps in an Atlas Contractus in 1666, later still many of the plates of his British maps were acquired by Pieter Schenk and Gerard Valck who published them again in 1683 as separate maps
Jan Jansson (1)
1639 Jansson & Hondius Large Antique Map of Japan, Korea & China - Japoniae Nova Descriptio
- Title : Japoniae Nova Descriptio
- Date : 1639
- Size: 22 1/2in x 18 3/4in (570mm x 475mm)
- Ref #: 43136
- Condition: (A+) Fine Condition
Description:
This fine, beautifully hand coloured original antique, early scarce map of Japan & Korea (as an Island) with parts of eastern China was published in the 1639 French edition of Gerardi Mercators Atlantis Novi Atlas by Jan Jansson and Henricus Hondius.
Condition Report:
Paper thickness and quality: - Heavy and stable
Paper color: - off white
Age of map color: - Later
Colors used: - Yellow, pink, green
General color appearance: - Authentic
Paper size: - 22 1/2in x 18 3/4in (570mm x 475mm)
Plate size: - 17 1/2in x 13 3/4in (445mm x 350mm)
Margins: - Min 2in (50mm)
Imperfections:
Margins: - Age toning, light spotting
Plate area: - None
Verso: - Age toning, bottom centerfold re-joined, no loss
Background: This map published by Jansson is taken directly from the Jodocus Hondius map - first published in 1606 - of Japan which faithfully followed the Ortelius/Teixeira style. Jansson has added an explanation for Korea, saying he was not yet certain whether it was an island or part of the mainland. The rest of Jansson's changes were ornamental, replacing the bottom Chinese Junk with a European ship & monster as well as changing the title and scale cartouches.
Luis Teixeira'a map, which was published by Ortelius in 1595, began a process that would last for three centuries, in which Western printed maps of Japan increasingly approached geographical reality. (Ref: Koeman; M&B)
