Angelocrator - De ponderibus - 1628

Angelocrator Daniel

Doctrine of weights, coins, and measures used throughout the entire world

Frankfurt - 1628 -
Johann Nicolaus Stoltzenberger

(2), 17, 171, (1) p. ill.
Sign. )(-2)(4 A-X4 Y2

In 40 - 20.5 x 16.5 cm.


Among the rarest, most unique, and distinctive
Representations of the world in the 17th century.

The very rare world map by Daniel Angelocrator is presented here twice.
Once in the unusual shape of four wedges on two sheets, and once with the wedges reorganized around the north and south polar centers.

Second edition, significantly expanded, of an important and rare treatise on ancient weights, solid and liquid substances, precious metals, and coins, and finally on detection techniques.
The artwork is enhanced by the highly sought-after map.
Complete in all its parts.

Only two stocks of this map are in the institutional collections, both lacking the polar projections.

The elusive map is often found incomplete, or is even missing.
SHIRLEY 320
GOLDSMITHS 459
HARLEY-WOODWARD vol. 3 p. 376.

It contains 2 foldable typographic boards, as well as Angelocrator's world map.
Four engraved folding sheets.
The illustrations in the text show folded plates with the solar system, tables, and a compass rose.

Angelocrator states that the projection is his invention, while the simplified map derives from Geelkercken.

One of these series of octant wedges has been controversially attributed to Leonardo da Vinci.
Although Leonardo may have sketched ideas for such a projection, as suggested by the evocative page of the Codice Atlantico, the drawing on the 1514 globe does not seem to be in the style of Da Vinci.
Later versions from the 16th century can be found in Oronce Fine's Sphaera Mundi (Paris 1551), in which meridians and parallels were added as equidistant circular arcs within each octant; additionally, in one of the maps from 1556 by Le Testu, and finally in the map by Angelocrator.
JOHN P. SNYDER - History of Cartography.

Daniel Angelocrator (1569/1635), a Reformed pastor and German cartographer, by designing this map model, avoided the distortion at the poles caused by the Mercator projection.

The four map sheets contained here use the octant projection to present the world in two different ways.
A pair, united, presents the Western and Eastern hemispheres similar to a double-hemisphere map.
The other pair organizes the octants in polar projections.
The Angelocrator thus demonstrated that the octants could be reorganized, without substantial modifications, to display the world in either equatorial or polar orientation without altering the projection, perhaps an argument in favor of their superiority over the Mercator projection, but also a sharp illustration of the globe's sphericity.

As Shirley observes, the map here includes few geographical details: the continents are shown with few rivers and very few toponyms on the main map, and practically none on the polar projections.

This attention to the general outlines of the world's continental masses is consistent with
Angelocrator's apparent goal is simply to illustrate his new projection.

The author includes these maps not in a geographical work, but in his 'Doctrina de Ponderibus…', a work that discusses international weights and measures and coinage.
It explicitly appeared in the context of his discussion on comparative distance measures and historical measures of the globe's dimensions (Eratosthenes, Ptolemy, Plato).

The outline is partially derived from the Geelkercken map of 1617.
Similarly to that work, the North Atlantic includes Iceland and the phantom island of Frisland.
The Australian continent joins New Guinea.

Although Geelkercken connects Tierra del Fuego to Antarctica, Angelocrator has separated these landmasses.
North America shows a peninsular California: although Briggs and Speed maps had been published at the time of this map's printing, the model by Angelocrator predates the spread of the myth of California as an island.

Beautiful, robust, and well-preserved contemporary binding in full rigid parchment, with a five-ribbed spine and passing straps, all intact.

Good overall condition of the interiors, despite significant browning of the cards, sometimes more pronounced, but still regularly viewable.
Such a defect, also observable in the few specimens recorded (Bavarian State Library),
Biblioteca Abbazia Montserrat is attributable to the paper quality of this edition.
However, the four folded maps, which are more substantial in paper, appear fresher, cleaner, and free from tears or missing parts.
Original guards preserved.

Prestigious copy, complete with the most sought-after maps by Angelocrator, and original in every part.
Settled. Complete.