Catalog Archive
Auction 159, Lot 436

"Potentissimo Borussorum Regi Friderico Wilhelmo Majestate, Fortitudine Clementia Augustissimo Hancee Lithuaniam Borussicam...", Homann Heirs

Subject: Lithuania, Kaliningrad Oblast, Poland

Period: 1735 (dated)

Publication:

Color: Hand Color

Size:
22.4 x 38.1 inches
56.9 x 96.8 cm
Download High Resolution Image
(or just click on image to launch the Zoom viewer)

This large and handsome map covers the area of Lithuania Minor or Prussian Lithuania, spanning from Palanga in present-day Lithuania down to Goldap, Poland. It was published in the aftermath of the Great Northern War plague, which devastated this region. There is fine detail throughout, with towns and cities, political divisions, rivers, lakes, forests, and other topographical features shown. The eastern part of Kaliningrad Oblast appears, and the town of Gusev (here called by its German name, Gumbinnen) is depicted in plan form in an inset beneath the title cartouche. Around the time of the map's publication, Frederick William I of Prussia was rebuilding and repopulating the plague-stricken Gusev with Protestants who had been pushed out of the Archbishopric of Salzburg. The extremely decorative title cartouche at top right presents a scene of reconstruction and abundance. On two sheets, joined.

References:

Condition: A

A nice impression on watermarked paper with a faint damp stain that just enters map border at right, minor soiling that is mostly confined to the blank margins, and short archivally repaired edge tears. There is a previous owner's stamp on verso of each sheet.

Estimate: $950 - $1,200

Sold for: $475

Closed on 9/14/2016

Archived