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First Edition of Jacob Sandrart's Rare Map of Poland & Lithuania

Fine dark impression of Jacob Sandrart's rare map of Poland and Lithuania, first published in Nuremberg in 1675.

The map includes a portrait of King Johannes III Sobieski, one of the most important Polish Kings. In the second edition of the map, published in 1697, Sobieski's portrait is replaced by a portrait of King Augustus II (Augustus the Strong), following Sobieski's death in 1697.

The map extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Adriatic, Black Sea, the Don River and Moscow.

The map is based upon the work of Guillaume Levasseur de Beauplan (1600-1673), a French mapmaker, engineer and architect. Beauplan served as artillery captain for the army of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland between 1630 and 1648. In 1639, Beauplan created the first "descriptive" map of Ukraine. He created a map of Ukraine in 1648 that had detailed border information. By 1654 he was working in Danzig. He created a map with a scale of 1:452,000 and an additional map scaled at 1:1,800,000, which were engraved by Hondius. These maps would go on to be published in Rouen, France and reproduced by Veniiamyn Kordt. Beauplan published another map of the Dnieper River in 1662.

Beauplan wrote Description des contrés du Royaume de Pologne, which was published in 1651.

John III Sobieski (1629 - 1696) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1674 until his death, and one of the most notable monarchs of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Sobieski's military skill, demonstrated in wars against the Ottoman Empire, contributed to his prowess as King of Poland. Sobieski's 22-year reign marked a period of the Commonwealth's stabilization, much needed after the turmoil of the Deluge and the Khmelnytsky Uprising. Popular among his subjects, he was an able military commander, most famous for his victory over the Turks at the 1683 Battle of Vienna. After his victories over them, the Ottomans called him the "Lion of Lechistan"; and the Pope hailed him as the savior of Christendom.

Rarity

The first state of the map has appeared only once at auction in the past 10 years (Zisska & Schaer, 2013, Sale 62, Lot 3162 -- 4,284 Euros).