Ireland, rare very large map, N. Visscher, 1690, Hibernae Regnum…

Sheet 53,5x112cm
Printed area 47,5x110,5cm
Map 47x56cm

Extremely rare edition of the famous Ireland map by N. Visscher, with the coat of arms of King William III, dating the map shortly after 1689 when William and Mary became king and queen of Scotland, England and Ireland.

Many of the famous Dutch mapmakers would not have visited Ireland and were reliant on outlines and information culled from a variety of sources including plagiarising the maps of others! This sometimes added to the errors – particularly in the transcription of place-names, and in the depiction of the coast and islands. This map was based on the new surveys by Sir William Petty. It was one of the earliest printed maps based on Petty's Down Survey; this was first performed in the 1650s during Cromwell's expedition to Ireland as a method to reward Cromwell's soldiers with the allocation of Irish land. However, the survey was not actually printed until 1685. Visscher's map, with its new first hand source, was substantially more accurate than previous maps which were mainly based on Mercator and Speed's works from the early 17th century.

The rarity of this edition is that the extensive index sheets are part of the total print, making it 112 cm (!) high and 53,5cm wide. The index is what Nicolaes Visscher describes aptly as ‘A Name-Shewer or Alphabeticall Table where are to be shewn all the Cities, principallest Country-Towns, Villages, Castles, Iles, and other most remarkable places in the Kingdome of Ireland, and how they are to be found on this map’. Today we might call this a locational Gazetteer, giving as it does two letters after each place entry, which relate to the almost un-noticed grid on the map. This grid has the same series of letters sited at the edges within each grid square, thus allowing us to locate the place.

Excellent. Very rare with the extensive index (with title in Dutch) connected to the map. Folded as issued. Very thick and crisp paper. Strong print. Beautiful hand coloring. Reverse side blank.