JACOBSZ. LOOTSMAN (Jacob). & JACOBSZ. LOOTSMAN (Caspar).

The Lightning Columne, or Sea-Mirrour, contaigning the Sea-coasts of the Northern, Eastern and Western Navigation: setting forth in divers necessarie Sea-Cards all the Ports, Rivers, Bayes, Roads, Depths and Sands ... bound with:  Lighting Colom of the Mi

Folio (445 x 280 mm); the general title-page trimmed into the printed area, with loss and mounted on a backing sheet; the Northern and Eastern Navigation with 31 (of 34 charts), lacking charts 2-5, the Dutch section (cf. Jac 19B for a list), and leaf ‘(n)’ [pages 93-94]; the Western Navigation complete with 27 charts (as Jac 43; cf. Jac 23 for a list, with 1 and 2 no longer called for), lacking F1 (pages 41-42); the Mediterranean section complete with 20 charts (cf. Jac. 49A, the charts re-numbered as Jac 50 A). Many of the charts are trimmed close in binding (some with loss, as often), general water-staining, but in all a good example of a working copy of the book. Amsterdam : Jacob and Casparus Lootsman, 167[5] & Amsterdam : Jacob and Casparus Lootsman, 1670, 1670.

£35,000.00

Rare pilot book, compiled for sale into the English market, this copy used, and annotated, on board ship by an English mariner in 1722 and 1723.

Theunis (or Antonie) Jacobsz (who used the name Lootsman to distinguish himself from a rival publisher) first ventured into chart-publishing in about 1644, and quickly established himself as a leading figure, although his career was cut short by his early death. The business was continued by his widow, as his sons were underage. Jacob and his brother Caspar subsequently took over the business. After Jacob’s death, Caspar continued alone. The Lootsmans are a lesser known publishing house; their output of pilot books and charts deserves to be better known, but they were functional in execution and usage, compared to the more elaborate work of rival publishers, such as Pieter Goos, Frederick de Wit or Johannes van Keulen, which more readily found a place in the libraries of the day, and survive in greater numbers in modern times.

Koeman records neither edition of the two volumes; the first falls closest to his Jac 43, a 1676 edition, but with the text in a different, earlier, setting, with the same page and chart count but different catchwords and with the almanac for 1675 to 1686. The Mediterranean volume pre-dates the recorded editions, the text setting (numbered to 118, signed A-Q4) not recorded.

This copy was owned by a seaman, and used aboard ship, which may account for the absence of the Dutch section. He annotated the verso of several of the early charts with observations, as also some text leaves, but also used it as a letter-book, account-book and diary / commentary of his voyages, variously dated 1722 to 1727.

The first volume is an intermediate edition; the Mediterranean volume is the earliest English language printing recorded, pre-dating the editions described by Koeman, and issued under the sole imprint of Caspar Lootsman. At this period, Dutch chart-publishers held a pre-eminent position in Europe; by preparing editions of their books in the vernacular languages, they came to dominate the different markets these were sold into; thus, most Dutch publishers produced English editions of their atlases and pilots and stifled their English competitors such as Joseph Moxon and John Seller.

However it was the Lootsmans misfortune to be overshadowed by the larger, established firms, or newcomers such as van Keulen, and their productions often achieved only limited distribution. For example, almost all the English editions published by the Lootsmans are located by Koeman in but a single example.

Stock No.
223162