Valck, Schenk, & Cellarius's Composite Atlas - 2 Volumes with 168 Maps & Engravings

Artist or Author: Gerard Valck and Petrus Schenk & Andreas Cellarius

Work: Nova totius geographica telluris projectio. Edita per Gerardum Valck, Amsterdam. (2nd title) Inleidinge tot de geographie, waar in begreepen zyn de astronomische geographie, verklaarende de overeenkomst der aardkloot met de sphere: de natuurlyke geographie. Geevende de verdeelingen van alle de deelen der Aarde en des waters ... Door den Heer Sanson d'Abbeville ... [bound with] Atlas Coelestis seu Harmonia macrocosmica Seu Atlas Universalis Et Novus, Totius Universi Creati Cosmographiam Generalem, Et Novam Exhibens

Date of Publication: c1700-1722

Style: 2 Volumes with 168 Maps & Engravings (Most with Original Hand-coloring, 29 Celestial Plates)

Paper Size: ~ 13 3/4" by 21"

Condition: The work is in very good to excellent condition overall. There may be a few minor imperfections or faint marks to be expected with age. Please review the image carefully for condition and contact us with any questions.

Description of the work:

This exceptional two volumes features two works: Nova totius geographica telluris projectio. Edita per Gerardum Valck, Amsterdam. (2nd title) Inleidinge tot de geographie, waar in begreepen zyn de astronomische geographie, verklaarende de overeenkomst der aardkloot met de sphere: de natuurlyke geographie. Geevende de verdeelingen van alle de deelen der Aarde en des waters ... Door den Heer Sanson d'Abbeville ... [bound with] Atlas Coelestis seu Harmonia macrocosmica Seu Atlas Universalis Et Novus, Totius Universi Creati Cosmographiam Generalem, Et Novam Exhibens. Nova totius geographica was published in Amsterdam by Johannes Covens and Cornelis Mortier. Atlas Coelestis was published by Valck & Schenk in Amsterdam. The works were published between c1700 and 1722.

The volumes are bound in full calf with beautiful gold gilt details, spine with nine compartments, spandrels, and spheres, boards framed by gilded lace. Each volume is housed in modern portfolio style boxes. There are 198 maps and engravings, 197 feature original hand-coloring and 1 without, 29 of these engravings are celestial charts. Volume 1 includes title / frontispiece and 101 double page maps. Volume 2 includes 65 double page maps, 3 double page prints, and the celestial plates from Cellarius with title / frontispiece, 29 double page star charts, and 1 black and white map by Simon Janz. This is considered a composite atlas assembled according to the collector published and sold by Valck and Schenk from various authors and cartographers.

Included in the terrestrial atlas are 169 maps and engravings: three maps of the world, two polar projections, 128 maps of Europe, 21 of Asia & Middle East, 6 of Africa, 7 of the Americas. There are also 3 plates depicting parts of warships, sea flags, and military architecture. Most of the maps are stamped or signed with Gerard Valck, Gerard and Leonard Valck, Petrus Schenk (I and II), or Gerard Valck and Petrus Schenk. The maps were engraved after maps by Jaillot, Blaeu, Visscher, Jansson, Sanson, Pirnacker, Moses Pitt, Labanna or Van Loon. Thirty-nine of the engravings from the atlas are from the rare Atlantis composite atlas sylloge compendiosa by Gerard and Lenard Valck published circa 1702. Ten of the engravings are from Petrus Schenk's Atlas Contractuspublished circa 1700.

Pieter Schenk the Elder [Petrus or Peter] (1660-1711) was a German cartographer, engraver, and publisher. He studied under Gerhard Valck. The two families would be active print sellers, globe makers, and publishers.

Included in Cellarius's celestial atlas is an allegorical frontispiece, title page, index sheet, and 29 originally hand-colored double page celestial engravings. Cellarius's engravings are remarkably decorated and some of the most visually appealing of the era. The frontispiece for the work was engraved by Frederik Hendrik van den Hove. At least ten of the engravings were done by Johannes van Loon. The classical constellations were illustrated after Jan Pieterszoon Saenredam.

"Among the most astonishing plates of the atlas are those of the "Christian sky" with, on the Christian planisphere showing the southern hemisphere (pl.24), the Ship Argo replaced by Noah's Ark, or on the boreal Christian planisphere (pl.25), the representation of six of the saints of the zodiac including Saint Andrew with his cross (replacing Taurus and the cluster of Hyades), the Sepulchre (replacing Andromeda) and the Red Sea (replacing the river aridanus). Similarly, the plate Hemisphaerium Australis Coeli & Terrae Scenographia (pl.28) depicts a never-before-used view of the sky, in which the constellations of the Southern Hemisphere are superimposed on the map of the globe. The arrangement was ingenious, but it is doubtful whether it was of practical use to astronomers of the time. Aesthetic concern therefore prevailed." (BnF, Figures du ciel, p. 159-164)

Cellarius’s work is one of the most highly decorative and noted as one of the finest celestial atlases ever produced. His atlas was done at the height of advancements in the understanding of the universe. Cellarius's atlas was a masterful work at the height of the golden age of Dutch cartography.

Cellarius's charts blends exquisite artistry with the scientific knowledge of the heavens at the time. He depicts the three great planetary systems of Ptolemy, Nicholas Copernicus, and Tycho Brahe. He took inspiration from the globes of Plancius and Blaeu. He rendered the motions of the sun, moon, and planets and illustrated the constellations with classic and biblical figures, animals, and instruments. Interestingly, he is the only known author to have adapted any part of Julius Schiller’s renaming of the constellations under a Christian names.

Andreas Cellarius (1596-1665) was a Dutch-German cartographer and cosmographer. He worked as a schoolmaster and eventually headmaster. He published several works but Harmonia Macrocosmica is still considered his greatest publication.