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Description

Nice example of Matthaus Seutter's edition of Adrien Reland's seminal map of Japan.

Adrien Reland's map of Japan is the first map to use Sino-Japanese characters on a European printed map and represents a radical departure from prior European maps of Japan.

Instead of following prior European maps and geographical sources, Reland utilized Japanese maps, most notably a map from the library or Benjamin Dutry, a former director of the Dutch VOC (East India Company). In some respects, this represented a tremendous leap forward in the geographical depiction of Japan, such as in the treatment of Kyushu and in naming the 66 provinces.

The map first appeared in 1715 in volume 3 of Jean Frederic Benard's Recuiel de voiages, and was thereafter copied by several other European mapmakers and became the primary means of mapping Japan during the period.

Includes a large inset of the area around Nagasaki, the location of an island which at the time was the only place where Westerners were allowed to trade with Japan.

Ornate dedication cartouche, with about 20 coats of arms.

Condition Description
Minor restoration at lower centerfold and to a few tears at the lower margin, just entering the printed image.
Reference
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Matthaus Seutter Biography

Matthäus Seutter (1678-1757) was a prominent German mapmaker in the mid-eighteenth century. Initially apprenticed to a brewer, he trained as an engraver under Johann Baptist Homann in Nuremburg before setting up shop in his native Augsburg. In 1727 he was granted the title Imperial Geographer. His most famous work is Atlas Novus Sive Tabulae Geographicae, published in two volumes ca. 1730, although the majority of his maps are based on earlier work by other cartographers like the Homanns, Delisles, and de Fer. 

Alternative spellings: Matthias Seutter, Mathaus Seutter, Matthaeus Seutter, Mattheus Seutter