France - Former Duchy of Brittany; Henricus Hondius - Duché de Bretaigne - Gravure sur cuivre, coloris d'époque - Hondius - Navires et monstres marins - 1621-1650

An old copper-engraved map, hand-enhanced, of Brittany, the Duchy of Brittany, by Henricus Hondius, published in 1633 in the Mercator-Hondius atlas.

The map is drawn from Sieur Hardy, the King's marshal of the guard. It represents Lower and Upper Brittany with a very large number of localities, rivers, forests and islands (Ouessant, Belle-Île, Noirmoutier). It also indicates Mont-Saint-Michel, Avranches, Nantes and Poitou. It bears the sale notice in Paris at Melchior Tavernier.

We see a grand title cartouche in which an Atlas holds the globe, surrounded by pikes, flags and armor. In the upper left are the crowned arms of France between two sea monsters. Warships firing cannons animate the Ocean. A scale cartouche with a ram’s head and a legend on a phylactery complete the scene.

- Dimensions: on the sheet: 56 x 47.5 cm; on the plate (map): 46.9 x 35.3 cm
- Condition: Good overall for a map of this period. Presence of a central vertical crease, light stains and small soiling. See photos for details.

Atlas Mercator-Hondius
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The atlas called “Mercator-Hondius” reprises the work of Gerard Mercator, whose copperplates were purchased by Jodocus Hondius in 1604. This French edition of 1633 is signed by his son Henricus Hondius and his son-in-law Joannes Janssonius, who augmented it with new maps.

Henricus Hondius
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Henricus Hondius (Amsterdam, 1597 – Amsterdam, 16 August 1651) was a Dutch engraver, cartographer and publisher. Son of Jodocus Hondius and Colette van den Keere, after his father’s death in 1612 he continued the family business with his mother, his brother Jodocus II and his brother-in-law Jan Janssonius. He founded his own enterprise in Amsterdam in 1621. His name first appears in the Mercator-Hondius atlas in 1623, in its fifth edition. The name Janssonius appears there as co-editor after 1633.