Antique World Map 1628 — Danckerts, Charte Vniuerselle

An old world map printed in Paris in 1628, with the sky on the same sheet

The title is a claim and a correction at once: Charte vniuerselle de tovt le monde, en laqvelle plvsievrs regions representees plvs exactement qvavx precedentes & les terres novvellement descovvertes fidellement corrigees svr les dernieres relations des anglois, hollandois et avtres — a universal chart of the whole world, in which several regions are shown more exactly than in the ones before it, and the newly discovered lands corrected after the latest reports of the English, the Dutch and others. That is the selling line of 1628, printed on the map itself: buy this one, the others are out of date.

What is on the sheet

It is large: 56 by 96 cm, two hemispheres of 45 cm each, assembled from two sheets because the plate was wider than the paper. Beside the two terrestrial hemispheres the record lists two celestial ones, illustrations and blocks of printed notes. Relief is shown pictorially, in the manner of the period: ranges drawn in profile rather than measured. The lettering is French.

The copy we scanned

The Library of Congress is specific about this impression, and so are we. It was colored by hand, but lightly and in green only, so the sheet reads as a green and brown drawing rather than the four-color atlas page a later century would have made of it. It is mounted on cloth, with pin holes in all four corners: this map hung somewhere before it reached a library. None of that was retouched away.

Danckerts and Tavernier

The record names two cartographers: Cornelis Danckerts, who died around 1656, and Melchior Tavernier, 1594 to 1665. The imprint is Tavernier's and gives him as engraver and printer to the king, working on the Ile du Palais. Who cut this plate, and by what process, the record does not say, and we do not guess for it.

Your file

How to print

• Pick the archive whose proportions match your frame, so nothing is cropped or stretched.
• At this width ask for a single sheet rather than a join, on matte fine-art paper in sRGB, auto-enhancement off.
• Where to print it: print shops near you and checked prices at online labs.

Source and rights

Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division, call number G3200 1628 .D3, LCCN 2017585786. The Library states the content is free to use and reuse, crediting Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division. There is no TIFF master in the package. Catalogue record: Library of Congress →

Questions