Theatrum Iconographicum
Omnium Urbium
Omnium Urbium
Harderwijk
Groenlo
Tiel
Wageningen
Gelre (Geldern)
Leiden, Burcht
Leiden, Lakenhal
Leiden
Amsterdam
Amsterdam, brandspuit Van der Heyden
Amsterdam, profiel (Joan de Ram)
Amsterdam, Beurs
Amsterdam, Nieuwezijdskapel
Amsterdam, profiel
Zierikzee
Utrecht
Antwerpen, Oostershuis
Mechelen
Luik (Liège)
Antwerpen, Stadhuis
The late 17th century Stedenboek (book of cities) by Dutch cartographer Frederik de Wit is one of the rarest map books in the world. Only four copies are know to exist and the finest version has been digitised and uploaded by the National Library of The Netherlands. [Flash and html formats are available]
De Wit was among the last of the renowned cartographers in what is referred to as the Golden Age of Dutch cartography. Common to all his work was superb engraving and exceptional colouring qualities that resulted in maps of unique beauty and historical interest.
This city collection might even be thought of as the culmination of a century's effort by Dutch urban cartography. De Wit was able to acquire engraved copper plates of towns produced in the mid-1600s by the esteemed Blaeu and Jansson families. These were both copied and modified and accompanied original map designs de Wit engraved himself for the exquisite Stedenboek.
Wow! This post is now permalinked on my blog. Thank you for posting this.
ReplyDeleteThanks. My grandfather came to the U.S. from the Netherlands, and I found his hometown, Zaltbommel, on the site you linked to. (I've now shared that link with family on Facebook.)
ReplyDeleteI am looking for my ancestral hometown too.
ReplyDeleteSuper! Off now to see if Groningen (my husband's home town) is in the original set...
ReplyDeleteexcelente, bellos trabajos
ReplyDeleteActually, Antwerpen, Luik and Mechelen and some other mapped cities aren't Dutch cities but Belgian. Could be that these cities were part of the Netherlands then, but they're not nowadays.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunatly Hilversum, the city where I was born, grew up and still live in is not to be found.
Yeah, sorry. It's always the case that when I kind of cut a corner, particularly in a geo/logical/political sense, I will be pinged for it. And deservedly so - I did know it wasn't all Holland, but I didn't realise there were so many Belgian towns.
ReplyDeleteWhen I look at the list of citynames, I guess about up to a fourth of them is Belgian. But I get that its confusing for some people, because they are Dutch names because they are Flemish cities. So these places are Begian but they have Dutch names and most people there speak Flemish, wich sounds like a more vintage Dutch, but with a teany bit of French :-)
ReplyDelete