KEULEN (Johannes van).
Le Nouveau & Grand Illuminant Flambeau de la Mer, la Troisieme Partie. Demonstrant les cotes de Grenade, Catalogne, Provence, Italie, Dalmatie, Grecce, Thracie, Natolie, Syrie, Egypte ...
Van Keulen’s ‘Zee-Fakkel’ is the finest of the may pilot books printed in seventeenth century Amsterdam; it was printed in a large folio format; the charts are more elaborately engraved, generally with decorative title vignettes, pictorial scenes and so on; in this way, the ‘Zee-Fakkel’ is more typical of a library volume than for ship-board use.
The plates were much reprinted over the years; the charts here are early printings, in fine dark impressions, which show the quality of the chart-making and engraving, printed on good quality paper, only associated with earlier printings.
The first French edition was published in 1684; this example matches Koeman’s description of that edition, except that the letterpress title date here has the final digit, ‘7’ inserted in manuscript.
Koeman, Atlantes Neerlandici, Keu 102A/102B: the final digit of the date inserted in manuscript.
