Frederik de Wit
The Dutch publishing house de Wit , based in Amsterdam , was run successively by three people of the same name:
- Frederik de Wit (* 1610; † 1698), the company's founder
- Frederik de Wit (* 1630; † 1706), the son of the company founder
- Frederik de Wit, the grandson of the company founder
The son and grandson continued the founder's company, which was passed to Covens & Mortier in the third generation .
history
Frederik de Wit (* 1610; † 1698), also Frederic , Frederick or Fredericus, was a Dutch publisher , engraver and cartographer . He founded his company in 1648, at the height of the Golden Age in Amsterdam, and was the editor of world atlases from around 1670 . His first published map was that of Denmark in 1659. This was followed by a map of the world from 1660. Further dating of his atlases is difficult. They appeared from 1670 and comprised 17 to 190 cards. The nautical atlases comprised 27 nautical charts and appeared from 1675.
In 1666 he acquired various copperplate engravings from Hubertus Quellinus (1619–87) from Antwerp , including a picture of the new city hall of Amsterdam . He also bought numerous cards from the Ottens brothers and sold some to them himself. His atlas of the Netherlands Nieuw kaertboeck van de XVII Nederlandse Provincien , which was highly regarded at the time , appeared in various editions and contained 20 to 25 maps. The "Stedeboeken" (city books containing panoramas , detailed views and city maps ) did not appear until 1695, at the time when his son had taken over the business. The idea might still come from the father and company founder.
The family business flourished during the management of the founder's son, Frederik de Wit (* 1630; † 1706 in Amsterdam). He became one of the most important publishers of maps and atlases of his time. Through his marriage to the Amsterdam citizen Maria van der Waag , he acquired the city's civil rights in 1661. Three years later he was admitted to the St. Lucas Guild . Although he was exposed to certain prejudices as a Catholic and did not always find it easy in the early Calvinist Netherlands of the 17th century, his name was found on the city list of "good men" (a kind of lay judge or lay judge - a position of trust from 1694 to 1704) of the city government).
After the decline of the printing houses of Joan Blaeu and Jan Jansson , which had dominated the market up to that point , de Wit acquired a large number of valuable copperplate printing plates at auctions, with which he produced the two editions of the Stedeboeken of the Netherlands published from 1698 , 124 city maps and views of the first Edition and 128 of the second. The city books of Europe with 132 city maps and views were mainly copper plates from Jansson, which de Wit had acquired from the Jansson-Waesberg company. Among them were the old plates from Braun en Hogenberg Civitates Orbis Terrarum , which gave de Wit the opportunity to reprint these as well.
Soon de Wit was able to deliver almost every type of cartography: from nautical maps and atlases to city maps and city panoramas. His work was characterized by a particularly fine engraving and noble color design, which make his works interesting to this day, which have been reproduced in large numbers and are of great value in their originals. Until his death he lived on the Kalverstraat in Amsterdam in his house called “De Witte Pascaert” (the white nautical chart).
His son and heir Frederik de Wit continued to run the company after his father's death from 1706, but in 1708 he sold a large part of the copperplate printing plates, presumably for financial reasons. In 1721 the company passed to Covens & Mortier. This shifted map production from the Netherlands, which had dominated this area for decades, to France .
The editions of the House of de Wit were consequently oriented north . It was already the case with the ancient Greeks, but then in the Middle Ages came a phase in which east was on top of world maps, because: in the east, the holy city of Jerusalem. The word “orientate” comes from this time: Orient is the east, whoever orientates himself orients himself and thus his inner map to the east. The north-south axis has prevailed in cartography, because only in the course of the great seafarers and with the introduction of the compass (which we also owe to the Arabs, who in turn got it from the Chinese) did a change occur. The compass needle pointing from north to south contributed significantly to the fact that the maps were also aligned accordingly. The publisher was one of the first in Europe to consistently implement this.
Works
- Totius Regnorum Hispania et Portugallia descriptio / Auct: F. de Wit. - Amsterdam, around 1680. Digitized edition of the University and State Library Düsseldorf
- Anglia Regnum In Omnes Suos Ducatus, Comitatus, Et Provincias Divisum . Amsterdam, 1680. ( digitized version )
- Nova atque emendata descriptio Suydt Hollandiae . Amsterdam, 1680. ( digitized version )
- Dania Regnum: In quo sunt Ducatus Holsatiae et Slesvicum, Insulae Danicae et Provinciae Iutia, Scania, Blekingia et Hallandia . Amsterdam, around 1688 ( digitized edition )
- Nova totius Angliæ, Scotiæ, et Hiberniæ tab . Amsterdam, between 1659 and 1688 ( Digitized edition )
- Rhinolandiae, Amstelandiae, et circumiacent. aliquot territoriorum accurata desc. Amsterdam, 1688. ( digitized version )
- Regni Poloniae et Ducatus Lithvaniae, Voliniae, Podoliae, Vcraniae, Prvssiae, Livoniae et Cvrlandiae descriptio . Amsterdam, 1698 ( digitized edition )
- Regnum Neapolis: in quo sunt Aprutium Ulterius et Citerius, Comitatus Molisius, Terra Laboris, Capitaniata Principatus Ulterior et Citerior, Terra Bariensis et Hidruntina Basilicata, Calabria Citerior et Ulterior . Amsterdam, between 1689 and 1704 ( Digitized edition )
- Tabula Tartariae et maioris partis Regni Chinae . Amsterdam, 1698 ( digitized edition )
- Terra Sancta Sive Promissionis, olim Palestine . Amsterdam, 1700 ( digitized edition )
- Status Ecclesiasticus et Magnus Ducatus Thoscanae . Amsterdam, 1700 ( digitized edition )
- Turcicum Imperium . Lhuilier, Amsterdam approx. 1698 ( digitized edition )
- Magni ducatus Lithuaniæ tabula: divisa tam in palatinatus, quam in subjacentes castellanias: cum privilegio potentiss. dd ordinum holl. westfrisiæq [ue] . Amsterdam, 1700 ( digitized )
literature
- Peter Barber: The Book of Cards. Milestones in cartography from three millennia. ISBN 978-3896782991
- John OE Clark: The fascinating world of maps. ISBN 978-1405478984
- Ute Schneider : The power of cards. Special edition. A history of cartography from the Middle Ages to the present day. ISBN 978-3896782922
Web links
- Amsterdam University, 32 maps by de Wit
- Amsterdam University, Townmaps from the Netherlands
- Amsterdam University, Townmaps of European cities
- Maps of 18th century Livoniæ - National Library of Estonia (Digital Collection)
- Map of America (approx 1670) - David Rumsey Historical Map Collection
- Digital Townatlas Royal Library
- Promosite on the facsimile edition of de Wit's Townatlas 2012
Remarks
- ↑ Regarding Frederik de Wit, the authority data entry GND 11931648X says : “The supposed printer dynasty consisting of father, son and grandson is one and the same person.” Access date: July 18, 2020.
- ↑ Johannes Covens (1697–1774) and Corneille Mortier (1699–1783)
- ↑ Hubertus Ottens and Reinero Ottens
- ^ Jan Jansson and his brother-in-law Waesberg