ANTIQUE MAPS of NAMUR
OVERIJESSEL - UTRECHT - ZEELAND

An Italian geographer and and merchant from Florence. He worked in Antwerp with Giovanni Battista. Well known for his maps, town plans and maps after Braun and Hogenberg of the Netherlands which appeared in his history of the Low Countries Description de Touts les Pais-Bas autrement appelles la Germamie Inferieure ou Basse Allemagneincluding

His father Iacopo Guicciardini had five sons. He sent two of them from Florence to Antwerp to run his mercantile business. Angelo in 1522, Giovan Battista and Lorenzo in 1527, and some years later in 1539 Raffeallo and Lodovico. Giovan Battista 1508 - c.1586 and Lodovico 1521 - 1589 both became geographers and were engaged in cartography.

Born in Arnhem. In 1612 he founded his own business in Amsterdam publishing maps, atlases and globes T ' Opt Water in De Pascascaerte'. In the same year he married Elizabeth Hondius the daughter of Jodocus Hondius the elder and Colette van den Keere. Also in that same year his father-in-law Jodocus died and Jan helped his widow Colette with the publication of the Mercator-Hondius Atlas. Colette and her son Jodocus both died in 1629 and Jan Jansson continued working on the atlas and with the help of Colltte's younger son Henricus Hondius they completed the revision of the Mercator-Hondius Atlas published in 1638 and known as Atlas Novus. Jan Jansson then continued on his own adding maps which culminated in his magnificent 11 volume work Atlas Maior published in five languages.

One of the big names in early cartography. Perhaps because of his extraordinary Theatrum Orbis Terrarum which is recognised to be the first atlas of the new age. A collection of maps of a uniform style and size taken from the works of some 87 mapmakers. A first.

Abraham Ortelius was born in Antwerp and became a publisher, mapmaker, cosmographer and publisher. But he started as an engraver and map colourist. To add to his income he traded in maps and prints and visited the world's largest annual book fair in Frankfurt. Here he met Gerard Mercator. The two of them later travelled together in Europe. He published his first map, a wall map of the World on 8 sheets in 1564 in Antwerp. It was 6 years later on May 20th, 1570 that he published his Theatrum Orbis Terrarum containing 70 maps. Over the next 28 years a total of 25 extended editions were published in Latin, German, French and Dutch. He was appointed Royal Geographer to King Philip II of Spain in 1575.

He died in Antwerp in 1598 aged 71.

Nicolaes Visscher was the son of Claes Janszoon Visscher (1587 - 1652) who was an engraver and published working in Amsterdam 'In de Guldden Bors' and later know as 'In de Visscher' Nicolaes worked with his father and took over the business after his father's death in 1652. He produced some beautiful maps as well as atlases. Let us name him Nicolaes I as in 1649 he had a son who he named Nicolaes. Known as Nicolaes II. He in turn continued the business after his father's death in Amsterdam in 1679, Nicholaes II died in 1702 but the business carried on being run by his wife Elizabeth until 1726.

A mapmaker and engraver who originated from Germany but came to England in the 1670’s and set himself up as a mapmaker, mapseller and engraver. He first set up shop in London at Vanley’s Court, Blackfriars but later settled in Deveraux Court in the Strand. You will find his name on maps other than his own as he engraved for quite a number of well known cartographers including Greenville Collins, Moses Pitt and John Seller amongst others. His own works include atlases both of the British Isles Counties as well as the Countries of the World.