1647 Joan Blaeu Antique Map of Iceland - Beautiful Original Hand Colouring

Title :Tabula Islandia Auctore Georgio Carolo Flandro Ref #: 17042 Size: 23 1/2in x 19in (590mm x 485mm) Date : 1647 Condition: (A+) Fine Condition Description: This is possibly one the best original hand coloured maps of Iceland by Blaeu, we have had the pleasure to offer. This map, by Willem Blaeu, was engraved by Jodocus Hondius after Joris Carolus, and was published by Willem Blaeus son, Joan, in the 1647 German edition of Atlas Nouvs General Definitions: Paper thickness and quality: - Heavy and stable Paper color : - off white Age of map color: - Original Colors used: - Yellow, green, blue, pink General color appearance: - Authentic Paper size: - 23 1/2in x 19in (590mm x 485mm) Plate size: - 20in x 15 1/4in (510mm x 395mm) Margins: - Min 1in (25mm) Imperfections: Margins: - Light age toning in left margin Plate area: - Small stain top right of map Verso: - None Background: This map of Iceland is perhaps the most familiar of all the outlines of the island ever published. The author is stated to be one Joris Carolus, a Dutch navigator from Enkhuizen, whose map was first engraved and prepared by Jodocus Hondius the younger in 1628, whose plates were bought by Willem Blaeu in 1629. Iceland bears the imprint of Willem Blaeu who issued it in his Appendix of 1630. The Carolus map was copied by virtually all mapmakers throughout the rest of the 17th century and well into the 18th. Some of the information is derived from a map made famous by the Flemish cartographer Abraham Ortelius, the Islandia of Gudhbrandur Thorlaksson (1541 - 1627) Bishop of Holar, who had studied mathematics and astronomy as well as theology, while other information, such as place names, is derived from Gerard Mercator's map of 1595. Willem Blaeu reprinted the map without change in his subsequent atlas editions, as did Joan after him, including the great atlas of 1662. In the southern southern part is shown the lively impression of Hekla in full eruption, described as mons perpetuo ardens while immediately to the west, the Bishopric of Skalholt is marked. To the south a note by Eiapialla hokel (Eyjafjallajokull) states that here may be found falcones albi or white falcons, presumably referring to the gyr falcon.