Johannes Janssonius - Original 1640 old-colored copperplate map of Upper and Lower Bavaria

• You are bidding on a very beautiful, hand-made copper engraved map "Bavariae Superioris et Inferioris nova descriptio.", made by the well-known Amsterdam cartographer Johannes Janssonius (1588-1664) in 1640. Shows the area between Augsburg, Salzburg, Passau and Amberg. With two beautiful cartouches and a coat of arms. Rare, as it does not have the text on the back. This map was not intended for one of the standard atlases and was sold separately. It is in very good condition and is professionally framed (museum glass).

Johannes Janssonius (Jan Jansz.; also as Ioannis, Io(H)annem; Ianssonii, Ianßonium or Joannem Janssonium (Juniorem) and the mentioned) (Arnhem, 1588 – Amsterdam, July 1664) was a Dutch cartographer, printer and publisher.

biography
Janssonius was born in Arnhem, the son of Jan Jansz, a printer and publisher. At a young age he moved to Amsterdam, which was then the centre of book printing and card trading. In 1612 he married Elisabeth Hondius, daughter of Jodocus Hondius. Elisabeth died in 1627 and Janssonius remarried in 1629 to Elisabeth Carlier. He set up shop for his father in Switzerland, and after his death continued the publishing house with Henricus Hondius (son of). This expanded into one of the largest of that time. There were branches in Berlin, Frankfurt, Geneva, Lyon and Stockholm, among others.
Under Janssonius' management, the Mercator-Hondius Atlas was expanded and published as Atlas Novus. This, which initially consisted of a part of a part, soon became an atlas consisting of several parts, supplemented with nautical charts and/or celestial maps on request. There were editions in Dutch, French, Spanish and Latin. Just like his contemporaries, Janssonius also used existing copper plates, including from the city books of Braun & Hogenberg and the Description de Touts Les pays BAS (Description of all De-Nederlanden) by Lodovico Guicciardini- (Cornelis claesz. edition) from 1609. It is noted that Janssonius Maps also appeared on the market earlier.
After Janssonius' death, the company was continued by his son-in-law Johannes (Jan) Van Waesbergen, who was married to his daughter Elisabeth Janssonius (1615-1681). Many copper plates of the city books were used (sometimes slightly adapted) by Frederik de Wit. The building on Dam Square was rented to Gerard Valck; a number of printing plates were also bought from him in 1694.