Sanderus - Verheerlykt Vlaandre - 1735

THE FORTS OF THE FLEMISH: SANDERUS PAINTS WAR, PORTS AND POWER
This volume of the Verheerlykt Vlaandre by Antonius Sanderus represents one of the most fascinating topographic celebrations of the Flemish in the 18th century. More than a simple geographical repertory, the work is a visual and political construction of the Flemish territory: fortified cities, commercial ports, bastions, canals, and urban panoramas are transformed into solemn and almost theatrical images through large, highly elegant copper engravings. The learned tradition inaugurated by the great Flemish antiquarian Sanderus is here updated and disseminated in Dutch, at a historical moment when the Flanders were still at the center of military and economic tensions in northern Europe.
The views of Dunkirk, Gravelines, Dixmude, or Ypres are not mere urban representations: they become symbols of territorial control, maritime commerce, and regional identity. The work preserves all the magnificence of northern Baroque topographic culture, suspended between military atlas, antiquarian book, and political celebration of the landscape.
MARKET VALUE
The illustrated 18th-century editions of Verheerlykt Vlaandre maintain a stable market among collectors of Flemish topography, historical cartography, and northern European vedutism. Complete volumes with large copper-engraved plates generally fetch values between 1,200 and 3,500 euros, with fluctuations mainly tied to the completeness of the engravings, the freshness of the impressions, and the condition of preservation. Exemplars with modern but elegant bindings and well-preserved plates, as in the present case, retain strong collectible interest, especially for the quality of the urban views on double-page plates.
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION AND CONDITION
Subsequent binding in half calf with smooth spine and marbled paper boards. Frontispiece printed in red and black with engraved allegorical vignette. Third volume of three, complete with the 9 large double-page copper engravings depicting towns and fortifications of the Flemish: Veurne, map of the Veurne territory, Bergues-Saint-Winoc, Broekburg, two views of Dunkirk, Nieuwpoort, Diksmuide, and Gravelines. The small decorative marginal engravings are absent. Some reddening and mild foxing. In ancient books with a multi-century history, a few imperfections may be present, not always noted in the description. Pp. (4); 4nn; 114; 52; (4).
FULL TITLE AND AUTHOR
Verheerlykt Vlaandre, behelzende eene algemeene en nauwkeurige beschryving van dat Graafschap… Derde Deel.
Leyden, Rotterdam & ’s Gravenhage, Jan Vander Deyster, Jan-Daniel Beman, Corn. en Fred. Boucquet, 1735.
Sanderus, Antonius.

CONTEXT AND SIGNIFICANCE
Antonius Sanderus was one of the most important historians and topographers of the Spanish Netherlands. His monumental work Flandria Illustrata, originally published in the 17th century, became one of Europe’s great models of illustrated Baroque topography. The Verheerlykt Vlaandre of 1735 represents a continuation and popularizing reworking of that tradition, aimed at an educated but broader audience interested in the history, geography, and urban prestige of the Flemish provinces.
Particularly important are the large double-page copper-engraved plates, which transform the volume into a true gallery of military urban views. The cities depicted appear as perfect fortified organisms: star-shaped bastions, walls, canals, and maritime harbors reflect the strategic centrality of the Flemish in European geopolitics between the 17th and 18th centuries. Dunkirk and Gravelines, for example, were crucial nodes of trade and naval warfare among France, Spain, England, and the United Provinces.
From an iconographic point of view, these engravings belong to the great northern vedutism tradition: elevated perspectives, cartographic precision, attention to defensive systems, and strong teatralization of urban space. The work thus sits at the crossroads of military atlas, historical book, and luxury decorative object intended for aristocratic and bourgeois libraries of northern Europe.

BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR
Antonius Sanderus (Antoon Sanders, 1586-1664) was a Flemish priest, humanist, historian, and topographer. Born in Antwerp, he dedicated much of his activity to historical and monumental documentation of the Flemish. His most famous work, Flandria Illustrata, is one of the absolute masterpieces of European Baroque illustrated topography, celebrated for the richness of the engravings, urban views, and antiquarian descriptions.

PRINTING HISTORY AND CIRCULATION
Sanderus’s Flandria Illustrata originally appeared in the 17th century in a sumptuous Latin edition illustrated with hundreds of engravings. Throughout the 18th century, the work underwent new revisions and adaptations into Dutch, including the Verheerlykt Vlaandre of 1735. These editions were intended for an audience not only interested in antiquarian erudition but also in the political and cultural celebration of historical Flanders. The illustrated volumes circulated mainly in the Southern Netherlands, the United Provinces, and European collector circles specializing in historical geography and urban vedutism.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES
ICCU / OPAC SBN: catalogs of 18th-century editions of Verheerlykt Vlaandre.
WorldCat: bibliographic records of the 1735 edition.
Brunet, Manuel du Libraire, V, sections on Sanderus.
Graesse, Trésor de livres rares et précieux.
Koeman, Atlantes Neerlandici, catalogs of Flemish and Dutch cartography.
Van der Heijden, Oude kaarten der Nederlanden.
Berlin Katalog / Ornamentstichsammlung: catalogs of Flemish urban views.