Matthäus Merian; 1593 - 1650.
Matthäus Merian (son); 1621 - 1687.
Born in Basel, studying in France, and moving to Frankfurt,
this copper plate engraver teamed up with the most famous
publisher Johann Theodore de Bry (whose daughter he married).
Around 1644 he collaborated with his son and Martin Zeiler
(a well known Austrian cartographer, 1589 - 1661) and started
to produce "Topographia", eventually a 21 volume massive work
replete with maps, plans and bird eye views of cities and
towns, portraits of key historic figures, landscapes and landmarks
engravings.
Of note his continuation of the publication of "Grands voyages'
and "Petits voyages" originally issued by Theodore de Bry
father.
A few of de Bry's plates were re-used by Matthaus Merian (&
Johann Ludwig Gottfried, writer & publisher) for "Historia
antipodum" (an historical relation of voyages to the Americas
for 150 years after the Colombus landing in the Bahamas) published
between 1631 and 1655.
Entyourff des Ausses Guaiaquil, und der bei den
Insuln Puna und S. Clara.
Inset: Wie die schiff under der Ins. Puna auf der Rede gelegen
haben.
This rare small composite map (6 15/16" X 6") was published
in the "West Indianischer Historien" book of the "Historia
Antipodum".
It shows the lay out of the Guayaquil bay area (South on top),
often visited to victual by the Spanish galleons plying the
Arica-Panama route.
The inset is a bird's eye view of the town itself in 1624
while under attack by a Dutch raiding party (notice the orange/white/blue
flags: the present days red/white/blue will replace them progressively
after 1630).
German text on verso.
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