IJsland – Johannes Janssonius, ca. 1630

INFLUENTIAL 17^TH CENTURY MAP OF ICELAND

“Tabula Islandiae”, copper engraving made in 1628 by Jodocus Hondius (I) after the design by Joris Carolus published by Johannes Janssonius around 1630. Coloured by a later hand. Verso: blank. Size: 38.1 x 49.5 cm.

Joris Carolus was a noted Dutch navigator and explorer whose extensive travels to Spitzbergen, Davis Strait, and other islands of the North Atlantic – and whose own exaggerations of the extent of those travels – established him as an authority on the northern oceans. Carolus’ travels did take him to Iceland more than once, but it may be that Jodocus Hondius used the navigator’s name specifically to incorporate the navigators’ authority without necessarily relying on his information.

Although Hondius credited Carolus for the map, its composition may well have been Hondius’ work. It is mainly a synthesis of Abraham Ortelius’s and Gerard Mercator’s maps of Iceland, which the present work was intended to replace. Both precursor maps were derived from Bishop Gudbrandur, scholar and Archbishop of Holár. Thus, ultimately the information presented here is derived from the report of an actual Icelander. It is somewhat larger than the earlier works, but the topography is drawn from Ortelius while the toponymy – nearly 270 place names – is that of Mercator. The overall shape of the island is improved, but inland there is little new detail: its chains of mountains, and particularly the Hekla volcano (“mons perpetuo ardens”, the continuously burning mountain, notorious even on mainland Europe thought to be a gate to Hell), remain the dominant features of the interior. The “Hopna Fjord” in the west of the island states (in Latin) that “a snake of unusual size sometimes appeared”.

The map has two fine compass roses, and a Dutch ship of the Noordsche Compagnie appears at the bottom along with two sea monsters. The scale cartouche at lower right is flanked by two sea-monster heads, and the beautiful cartouche combines a strapwork frame with floral elements and is topped with two probably huldufólk (hidden people or elves) referring to the Icelandic landscape and its natural elements.

The map was first issued by Hondius in 1629, then re-issued by Janssonius and Blaeu the following year, with changes. This particular map is a rare example separately issued by Janssonius with no text on verso.

Price: Euro 1.250,-