Spanish Carte-a-Figures Rarity
Rare separately published map of the Iberian Peninsula.
As noted by the National Library of Spain, the map has no place and date of publication, but is almost certainly after 1610, the date on which Jodocus Hondius publishes the first map of Spain with border views and figures. The cartographic representation and the characters are similar to those of the Hondius map, although the placement of images has been reversed in some cases. The city views match those of the map by Claes Jansson Visscher, published in 1623, but the cartographic content is not identical.
Around the map are the following city views:
- Pons Segovia
- Madrid
- Seville
- Lixbona
- Valladolid
- Turris Herculis
- S. Adriani M.
- Granata
- Toledo
- Monast, S. Laurent in Escuril, Fundatun to Philipp II, His Reg.
- Barcelona
- Burgos
- Algibe
Three female characters are shown at the left and three male to the right, all dressed in costumes of the time. Between the views and the characters there are shields of the different kingdoms of Spain and in the center of the upper margin the royal shield.
According to Schilder and Stopp the map first published in Amsterdam, with the first state dated 1622. "This is a curious map of Spain by an anonymous Dutch engraver. In fact, it combines elements from the two earlier maps by Jodocus Hondius Sr. and Claes Jansz Visscher... The reasons for this back-dating remain a mystery".
Schilder identifies the states as follows:
- State 1: Dated 1622
- State 2: No date
- State 3: Folio # added at top right corner.
Rarity
The map is extremely rare. This is the first example we have ever seen on the market and we know of only the example in the Spanish National Library, which dates the map as 1623.