Friesland, Franekeradeel – Wopke Eekhoff, 1852

“Gemeente Franekeradeel (Voormalige Tweede Grietenij van Westergoo).” [Municipality of Franekeradeel (Former Second Grietenij of Westergo).] Large-format steel engraving made in 1852 by Daniel Veelwaard for Wopke Eekhoff’s Nieuwe Atlas van de Provincie Friesland. Coloured by a later hand. Size approx. 57 × 65 cm.

This map shows the municipality of Franekeradeel in 1852, situated west of the city of Franeker and enclosed by the open, sharply parcelled salt marsh landscape of the Westergo region. The area had been intensively farmed since the Middle Ages; its fertile sea clay formed the basis for thriving dairy farming and arable agriculture. The many straight ditches, canals and old dikes reflect centuries of struggle against the water and the continual reclamation of land between the former Middelzee and the Wadden Sea.

At the centre of the municipality lies the historic university town of Franeker. To the west and southwest are the villages of Tzum, Sexbierum, Oosterbierum, Klooster Lidlum, Firdgum and Minnertsga, linked by a network of country roads and tow-canals. The coastline along the Wadden Sea shows the outside dikes, salt marshes and the transition from sea-clay farmland to brackish coastal grasslands.

The grietenij was governed by a grietman, appointed by Leeuwarden, which exercised authority over the area. The grietman was responsible for maintaining law and order and also had powers in the fields of justice and taxation. After the introduction of the Municipalities Act in 1851, Franekeradeel no longer had grietmannen, but mayors.

The Nieuwe Atlas van de Provincie Friesland was produced on behalf of the provincial government. On 2 March 1847 the Leeuwarder Courant published the “Notice of Subscription to the publication of a new Atlas of Friesland.” The price for the entire atlas of 32 maps was 48 guilders; individual maps cost 2 guilders each.

Each map was made available for inspection in the relevant municipality for two weeks. In a prior publication in the Leeuwarder Courant, Eekhoff announced that “everyone is given the opportunity to submit written comments on it to the authorities.” It was also noted that individual maps could still be ordered for two guilders, “since after publication they will no longer be obtainable.”

At the age of thirteen, Wopke Eekhoff (1809–1880) began working in his hometown of Leeuwarden for the bookseller and printer G.T.N. Suringar. He developed into a self-made historian of real distinction. In 1838 he was appointed city archivist of Leeuwarden—the first in the Netherlands. He combined that position with his own bookshop and publishing firm at the corner of the Wirdumerdijk and the Peperstraat.

In an edition of 286 copies, Eekhoff published the Nieuwe Atlas van Friesland in 1849, now better known as the Eekhoff Atlas. Ten years earlier, the Provincial Executive of Friesland had commissioned the province to be remapped. Using triangulation, the maps were compiled by J.W. Witteveen (a draftsman with the cadastre), under the supervision of verification engineer J.H. Jappé. The maps were engraved by D. and H. Veelwaard and lettered by L. Schweickhardt.

Price: Euro 375,-