Dania regnum [Kingdom of Denmark]

This is an uncommon attractive map of [The Kingdom of Denmark, the Duchy of Holstein and Schleswig, Danish islands and (Scanian) provinces of Jutland, Scania, Blekinge and Halland by Justus Danckers].

This ca. 1680 map of Denmark, its islands and provinces by Justus I Danckerts is based on a contemporary map by Frederick de Wit and even earlier map by Joan Blaeu.

  The map title is presented on a scroll cartouche supported by angels and below is the Danish Coat of Arms, supported by two almost naked Danes, set in a farm scene with cattle, sheep and a horse. The scale is provided in German, French and Danish miles. The Danckerts imprint in the title of this map precedes the privilege (‘copyright’) granted to the family in 1684.

   For more than a century (ca. 1600 -– 1720), the Danckerts family was prominent in Dutch geography, cartography, publishing and selling of maps and atlases. The family produced numerous atlases but the history is somewhat obscure. The first Danckerts Atlas was published in the mid 1680s when Justus’s sons and wife became skilled in engraving.     

  This Danckerts map of Denmark is uncommon: the Antique Map Price Record lists only four examples of the map sold in the past 30 years.

  Condition: Very Good. The paper is lightly age-toned but not unattractively so. Splits in the central join of the two pages have been repaired using archival tissue paper, which also has been used to repair a few tiny tears in the margins. The paper has been de-acidified by way of a wash in warm spring water with an appropriate pH.