Nicolaes Visscher | Atlas minor sive geographia compendiosa, c.1716, hand-coloured maps, contemporary Dutch binding

Nicolaes Visscher

Atlas minor sive geographia compendiosa. Amsterdam: Visscher [but Elizabeth Verseyl, circa 1716]

Folio (540 x 350mm.), engraved allegorical title, letterpress title, 101 double-page engraved maps, some folding, all coloured by a contemporary hand, contemporary Dutch vellum gilt in a panelled design with central royal arms of Holland, incorporating initials “PPP” (“Pugno Pro Patria”) and armillary sphere cornerpieces, occasional short tears, creasing and marginal strengthening

A finely coloured example of one of several composite editions of the Atlas minor issued after 1702 by his widow Elizabeth Verseyl (d.1726). Includes maps by Homann, De Witt, Allard and others. The world map is “Planisphaerium Terrestre” by Allard (Shirley 578), as are the two fine celestial charts that follow, and the map of the Americas (“Recentissima novi orbis, sive Americae Septentrionalis et Meridionalis tabula”).