Mercator–Hondius Map of Ireland (Irlandiae Regnum), Dutch Edition

Product Description

This is the classic Mercator map of Ireland, the plate that shaped how Europe pictured the island for the better part of a century. It is engraved with west at the top, which catches most people at first glance, and once you orient yourself it is one of the most characterful early maps of the country you can own. The title scroll reads Irlandiae regnum, and along the foot runs Mercator's own line, Per Gerardum Mercatorem Cum Privilegio.

What makes this particular sheet worth pausing over is the back. The verso carries a full Dutch letterpress account of Ireland, headed Beschryvinghe van Yrland, opening with the old classical names for the island. Beside the margin note Naems oorsprong, the origin of the name, the text sets out what the ancient authors called it, that Orpheus, Aristotle and Claudian called it Ierna, Juvenal and Mela Iuverna, Diodorus Siculus Iris, and it derives the name Hibernia from Hibero. From there it runs through the island's size, its borders, its rivers, its towns, its government and its natural history, section by section, with margin notes reading Groote, Grensen, Rivieren, Steden, Regeeringhe, Bergen and Zee. That Dutch text is not decoration. It places this sheet firmly within a Dutch-language edition of the Mercator–Hondius atlas, printed in Amsterdam, rather than being an unplaceable loose leaf. You are buying a documented atlas map, not an orphan.

The plate itself originates with Mercator's landmark 1595 Atlas, the first work to carry that word on its title page. After Mercator died in 1594 the copperplates passed to Jodocus Hondius in Amsterdam, and the Hondius house reissued them across several European languages through the first half of the seventeenth century. This is one of those Dutch issues, printed from the original Mercator plate, with the map on one side and the Dutch geography on the other. The Dutch text reflects the Amsterdam context in which it was printed, the Dutch Republic being the dominant force in European mapmaking through the period.

The colour is old hand colour, applied in wash to pick out the provinces and the coastline, and it has the soft, slightly uneven quality that period colour has and modern colour never quite fakes. The paper is handmade laid rag paper, and you can see the chain and laid lines when you hold it to the light. The sheet has been professionally conserved and now lies flat and stable while keeping its original character. 

I like this one because it is the version most people picture when they think of an early map of Ireland, and it has a real story on both sides. For an Irish buyer, or anyone with a wall that deserves something with four hundred years behind it, it is a straightforward and honest thing to own.

Specifications

• Title: Irlandiae Regnum
• Cartographer: Gerard Mercator (1512–1594)
• Publisher: House of Hondius, Amsterdam
• Edition: Dutch-text atlas edition. Verso headed Beschryvinghe van Yrland, folio 11–12.
• Date: Amsterdam, early 17th century. 
• Plate first issued: 1595
• Technique: Copper engraving, oriented to the west, with period hand colour
• Verso: Dutch letterpress text (Beschryvinghe van Yrland)
• Paper: Handmade laid rag paper, visible chain and laid lines
• Dimensions:  328 x 415 mm plate mark
• Condition: Professionally conserved, flat and stable, retaining original hand colour.
• References: Van der Krogt 1, 5900:1; Karrow 56/148