De Fer, Nicolas

1646 - 1720

Entry 82. in states the following :

Nicolas De Fer was a French geographer, engraver and publisher of considerable creative ability who held the office of Geographe de sa Majeste Catherine. He was extremely prolific, producing some 600 maps and several atlases – the Atlas Royal (1695) and Atlas Curieux (1700-1705) among them. While he nevertheless acquired a considerable reputation in his lifetime. Moreland & Bannister note that “today his maps are still popular, in spite of, or perhaps because of, their rather flamboyant decoration and for their geographical errors”

Mapping The Continent of Asia, by Michael Sweet / Antiques of the Orient

Antique Maps Moreland and Bannister 1993.

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de Vaugondy, Robert

1688 - 1766

The Robert de Vaugondy family were French cartographers who were descendents from Nicolas Sanson. Sanson was regarded by many as the founder of the great age of French cartography in the second half of the seventeenth century. Gilles Robert de Vaugondy inherited much of Sanson’s cartographic material which he and his son Didier revised and corrected with the addition of many new place names. The elder Robert de Vaugondy, Giles, is also know as Le Sieur or Monsieur Robert.

One of the great atlases that the Robert de Vaugondys’ produced was the Atlas Universal of 1757 containing over 100 splendidly engraved maps. Some of these maps were beautifully decorated with magnificent rococo cartouche.

Antique Map Moreland and Bannister

Bel et Utile. The Work of the Robert de Vaugondy Family of Mapmakers. 1992
Mary Sponberg Pedley

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Hall, Sydney

fl. 1818 - 1853

The London firm of Sydney Hall  were engravers and publishers of maps and atlases. They were operating in the first half of the nineteenth century. After Sydney Hall died in 1831 the business and engraving was carried on by his wife Selina (S.) Hall until 1853.

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HONDIUS, JODOCUS

1563 - 1612

Jodocus Hondius was an engraver and instrument maker who became one of the most notable mapmakers of his time. He was born in Flanders and bought up in Ghent where he apprenticed as an engraver. In 1584 he went to London to escape the religious troubles in his home country. In England he met a number of leading scientists and geographers of the time. He produced a number of maps and portraits. In 1593 he moved to Amsterdam where many Antwerp printers, publishers and engravers had gone and together they established a new centre of cartography. He set up business in Kalverstraat. Assisted by his bother-in-law Petrus Kaerius, another talented engraver, he produced maps for the atlas Caert Thresoor. He also produced wall charts and globes.

In 1604 Hondius bought the copper plates for the Mercator Atlas from the Mercator family. He continued to work on the atlas and produced 37 more maps which he published together with the originals in his World Atlas of 1606. The maps were beautifully engraved and many of them were more up to date than those of his rival Abraham Ortelius which appeared in the popular Theatrum Orbis Terrarum. The Mercator Hondius Atlas was a great success and was to be published in a number of different languages.

Atlantes Neerlanici Koeman p.156

Collecting Antique Maps Jonathan Potter p.123

Antique Maps Moreland and Bannister p.102

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JANSSON, JAN

1588 - 1664

Jan Jansson was born in Arnhem where his father was a bookseller and publisher. In 1612 he married Elizabeth Hondius, daughter of the cartographer and publisher, Jodocus Hondius, and settled in Amsterdam. He became a book publisher and produced a large quantity of maps in rivalry with the great Dutch map publishing family of Blaeu.

From about 1630 to 1638 he was in partnership with his brother in law, Henricus Hondius issuing further editions of the Mercator / Hondius atlases to which his name was added. On the death of Henricus he took over the business and along with many new publications he expanded the publishing of the atlas to an 11.volume Atlas Major.

The heirs of Jansson continued publishing until the end of the seventeenth century.

Tooley’s Dictionary of Mapmakers

Atlantes Neerlandici Dr Ir. C. Koeman

Antique Maps Moreland and Bannister

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KITCHIN, THOMAS

1718 - 1784

The Englishman Thomas Kitchin (1718 - 1784) was an engraver, publisher and hydrographer to the King of England. He worked in London in the middle of the eighteenth century.

Tooley’s Dictionary of Mapmakers R.V.Tooley 1979

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Kitchin, Thomas

1718 - 1784

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Laurie, Robert & Whittle, James

c.1755 - 1836

The English publishers Laurie and Whittle started their business in London in about 1790. They took over the stock of Robert Sayer’s publishing house in 1792-93. The company’s prolific output covered maritime atlases and charts as well as general atlases and sheet maps. Many of the publications were based on the works of the British geographers and publishers, Kitchin, Jeffreys, Faden and Sayer and Bennett.

Antique Maps Moreland and Bannister

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MALLET, ALLAIN MANESSON

1630 - 1706

Allain Manesson Mallet was a French engineer who travelled widely. In Paris in1683, he published a five volume book entitled, Description de L’Univers. The work was extesively illustrated with nearly 700 engravings, including miniature maps, charts , plans and views. Miniature Antique Maps Geoffrey King

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