1737 Homann Heirs / D'Anville Map of Florida and the West Indies
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Description: A wonderful example of J. B. Homann’s spectacular map of the West Indies. Consists of maps based upon the admirable work of D’Anville complied into a single sheet. The primary map, attributed to D’Anville’s work of 1731, depicts the West Indies from Mexico to the Lesser Antilles including the totality of Florida, parts of Carolina, and parts of northern South America. Southern Florida, in an attempted rendering of the Everglades, is shown as a series of lakes and islands connected by narrow canals. New Orleans and the mouths of the Mississippi are shown with relative accuracy as are Mexico and the West India Islands. Territories are color coded according the colonial powers that ruled them. The smaller maps include, from the top left, the Bay and Isthmus of Panama. In the upper right quadrant there is an excellent depiction of the port and harbor of St. Augustine, Florida. This is one of the earliest obtainable depictions of a harbor in Florida. The lower left quadrant features an inset plan of the city and harbor of Veracruz, Mexico. The lower right quadrant offers a similar plan of the city and harbor of San-Domingo. The bottom center features a splendid view of Mexico City, Mexico. The top center is adorned by a marvelous floral title cartouche depicting two Amerindians wearing elaborate feather headdresses and holding serrated spears. One of Homann’s more interesting maps of the Americas.
Date: 1731 (dated, but probably a later printing)
References: Kapp, Kit S., "The Early Maps of Panama up to 1865", Map Collectors Circle, Issue 73, no. 58. Lowery, Woodbury, The Lowery Collection: A Descriptive List of Maps of the Spanish Possessions within the Present Limits of the United States, 1502-1820, 360.
Cartographer: Johann Baptist Homann (March 20, 1664 - July 1, 1724) was the most prominent and prolific map publisher of the 18th century. Homann was born in Oberkammlach, a small town near Kammlach, Bavaria, Germany. As a young man Homann studied in a Jesuit school and nursed ambitions of becoming a Dominican priest before converting to Protestantism in 1687. Following his conversion, Homann moved to Nuremberg and found employment as a notary. Around 1693 Homan briefly relocated to Vienna, where he lived and studied printing and copper plate engraving until 1695. Afterwards he returned to Nuremberg where, in 1702, he founded the commercial publishing firm that would bear his name. In the next five years Homann produced hundreds of maps and developed a distinctive style characterized by heavy detailed engraving, elaborate allegorical cartouche work, and vivid hand color. The Homann firm, due to the lower cost of printing in Germany, was able to undercut the dominant French and Dutch publishing houses while matching the diversity and quality of their output. By 1715 Homann's rising star caught the attention of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles the VI, who appointed him Imperial Cartographer. In the same year he was also appointed a member of the Royal Academy of Sciences in Berlin. Homann's prestigious title came with a number of important advantages including access to the most up to date cartographic information as well as the "Privilege". The Privilege was a type of early copyright offered to a few individuals by the Holy Roman Emperor. Though not as sophisticated as modern copyright legislation, the Privilege did offer a kind of limited protection for several years. Most all J. B. Homann maps printed between 1715 and 1730 bear the inscription "Cum Priviligio" or some variation. Following Homann's death in 1726, the management of the firm passed to his son Johann Christoph Homann (1703 - 1730). J. C. Homann, perhaps realizing that he would not long survive his father, stipulated in his will that the company would be inherited by his two head managers, Johann Georg Ebersberger and Johann Michael Franz, and that it would publish only under the name Homann Heirs. This designation, in various forms (Homannsche Heirs, Heritiers de Homann, Lat Homannianos Herod, Homannschen Erben, etc..) appears on maps from about 1731 onwards. The firm continued to publish maps in ever diminishing quantities until the death of its last owner, Christoph Franz Fembo in 1848. Click here for a list of rare maps from Johann Baptist Homann.
Cartographer: Jean Baptiste Bourguignon d'Anville (1697-1782) was perhaps the most important and prolific cartographer of the 18th century. D'Anville's love of cartography manifested itself at the tender age of fifteen, when he amused himself by composing maps for Latin authors. At twenty-two D'Anville was appointed Geographer to the King of France. As both a cartographer and a geographer, he instituted a reform in the general practice of cartography. Unlike most cartographers, D'Anville did not rely on earlier maps to inform his work, rather he based his maps on actual surveys and research that he conducted himself. His maps were thus the most accurate and comprehensive of his period. Thomas Basset and Philip Porter write: "It was because of D'Anville's resolve to depict only those features which could be proven to be true that his maps are often said to represent a scientific reformation in cartography." (The Journal of African History, Vol. 32, No. 3 (1991), pp. 367-413). The work of D'Anville thus marks a critical point in the history of cartography and opens the way to the maps of English cartographers Cary, Thomson and Pinkerton in the early 19th century. Click here for a list of rare maps by Jean Baptiste Bourguignon d'Anville.
Size: Printed area measures 19.5 x 23 inches (49.53 x 58.42 centimeters)
Condition: Very good condition. Minor water stain on left side, center. Original centerfold. Else clean.
Code: IndiaeOccidentalis-homann-1734 (Necessary for phone inquiries: 646-320-8650)
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