![WIT, Frederick de (1629/30 - 1706). Composite Atlas. Amsterdam: F. de Wit, [n.d. but circa 1704].](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2012/NYR/2012_NYR_02622_0165_000(wit_frederick_de_composite_atlas_amsterdam_f_de_wit_nd_but_circa_1704075742).jpg?w=1)
Details
WIT, Frederick de (1629/30 - 1706). Composite Atlas. Amsterdam: F. de Wit, [n.d. but circa 1704].
2o (514 x 312 mm). 59 double-page engraved maps (50 by de Wit and 9 others) ALL FINELY COLORED BY A CONTEMPORARY HAND, allegorical frontispiece depicting Atlas supporting the heavens, 2-page manuscript index. (A few maps with early repairs on verso at folds, "Terra Sancta" with early backing.) 18th-century calf (neatly repaired at foot of spine).
A SUPERB COPY OF THIS RARE AND EARLY DE WIT ATLAS WITH VERY FINE CONTEMPORARY HAND-COLORING THROUGHOUT
All fifty of the de Wit maps in the rare first state, without the privilegium added after 1689. Only four of the maps are dated, ranging from 1659-1671. The world map (Shirley 451, ca, 1670), showing California as an island with no Pacific Northwest or Alaska, the Great Lakes incomplete, and only parts of Australia, is surrounded by a magnificent engraved allegory of the four seasons and the signs of the zodiac, "one of the most attractive maps of its time" (Shirley). This copy contains the four maps of the continents with the rare outer panel decoration. The beautiful baroque decoration, and its magnificent coloring, is continued throughout the entire atlas. The work of other contemporary cartographers was kept in stock by de Wit and when clients requested maps of areas that he did not publish these were bound-in to order. This atlas contains 9 maps by other cartographers, including: Ottens, Danckerts, Laurenberg, Visscher, de L'Isle, Sanson and Randolph. The de L'Isle map is dated 1704, probably the date the collection was completed and the manuscript index was compiled. Of a total of twenty-one editions of the de Wit atlas to 1708, Koeman distinguishes only eight that were printed before the Privilegium was added in 1689, each highly variant. This atlas corresponds with Koeman's Wit 7, except that three added maps replace de Wit's map Graecia. Wit 7 also has a printed index, but no title-page or frontispiece. THE MAPS OF THE FOUR CONTINENTS, flanked on three sides with panels depicting cities and natives ARE OF GREAT RARITY. Bagrow-Skelton, p. 183; See Koeman III, 7 and pp. 192-199.
2o (514 x 312 mm). 59 double-page engraved maps (50 by de Wit and 9 others) ALL FINELY COLORED BY A CONTEMPORARY HAND, allegorical frontispiece depicting Atlas supporting the heavens, 2-page manuscript index. (A few maps with early repairs on verso at folds, "Terra Sancta" with early backing.) 18th-century calf (neatly repaired at foot of spine).
A SUPERB COPY OF THIS RARE AND EARLY DE WIT ATLAS WITH VERY FINE CONTEMPORARY HAND-COLORING THROUGHOUT
All fifty of the de Wit maps in the rare first state, without the privilegium added after 1689. Only four of the maps are dated, ranging from 1659-1671. The world map (Shirley 451, ca, 1670), showing California as an island with no Pacific Northwest or Alaska, the Great Lakes incomplete, and only parts of Australia, is surrounded by a magnificent engraved allegory of the four seasons and the signs of the zodiac, "one of the most attractive maps of its time" (Shirley). This copy contains the four maps of the continents with the rare outer panel decoration. The beautiful baroque decoration, and its magnificent coloring, is continued throughout the entire atlas. The work of other contemporary cartographers was kept in stock by de Wit and when clients requested maps of areas that he did not publish these were bound-in to order. This atlas contains 9 maps by other cartographers, including: Ottens, Danckerts, Laurenberg, Visscher, de L'Isle, Sanson and Randolph. The de L'Isle map is dated 1704, probably the date the collection was completed and the manuscript index was compiled. Of a total of twenty-one editions of the de Wit atlas to 1708, Koeman distinguishes only eight that were printed before the Privilegium was added in 1689, each highly variant. This atlas corresponds with Koeman's Wit 7, except that three added maps replace de Wit's map Graecia. Wit 7 also has a printed index, but no title-page or frontispiece. THE MAPS OF THE FOUR CONTINENTS, flanked on three sides with panels depicting cities and natives ARE OF GREAT RARITY. Bagrow-Skelton, p. 183; See Koeman III, 7 and pp. 192-199.