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Description

Rare Beauplan Map of Bratslav Region of Ukraine

Fine old color example of Beauplan's map of the region of Ukraine centered on the Bug and Hirs'kyi Tikych Rivers, published in Amsterdam by Johannes Blaeu.

Extends west to Krasno, Poland and the area immediately east of Crakow.  

Blaeu's first state of the map of the Kiev region of Ukraine and vicinity, based on Guillaume le Vasseur de Beauplan’s map. In the first half of the 17th Century, the French military engineer Guillaume le Vasseur de Beauplan (1595-1685), completed an extensive survey of the Ukraine commissioned by the king of Poland Ladislaus IV. Apart from the extensive map of the Ukraine which Beauplan completed in 1639, De Beauplan also created a detailed map in six sheets, which was finished in 1651.  

Johannes Blaeu created four maps of Ukraine based on Beauplan’s 6 sheets, detailing the regions of Pokuttya, Podillya, Bratslavschyna and Kyiv.  

In 1721, the imprint of Covens and Mortier was added shortly after the firm's acquisition of the original copperplates. 

Reference
Imago Poloniae K98/3; Koeman II, 1744:2.
Johannes Blaeu Biography

Joan, or Johannes, Blaeu (1596-1673) was the son of Willem Janszoon Blaeu. He inherited his father’s meticulous and striking mapmaking style and continued the Blaeu workshop until it burned in 1672. Initially, Joan trained as a lawyer, but he decided to join his father’s business rather than practice.

After his father’s death in 1638, Joan and his brother, Cornelis, took over their father’s shop and Joan took on his work as hydrographer to the Dutch East India Company. Joan brought out many important works, including Nova et Accuratissima Terrarum Orbis Tabula, a world map to commemorate the Peace of Westphalia which brought news of Abel Tasman’s voyages in the Pacific to the attention of Europe. This map was used as a template for the world map set in the floor of the Amsterdam Town Hall, the Groote Burger-Zaal, in 1655.

Joan also modified and greatly expanded his father’s Atlas novus, first published in 1635. All the while, Joan was honing his own atlas. He published the Atlas maior between 1662 and 1672. It is one of the most sought-after atlases by collectors and institutions today due to the attention to the detail, quality, and beauty of the maps. He is also known for his town plans and wall maps of the continents. Joan’s productivity slammed to a halt in 1672, when a fire completely destroyed his workshop and stock. Joan died a year later and is buried in the Westerkerk in Amsterdam.