Provenance: Formerly in the collection of the famous bookdealer Morton ‘Jock’ Netzorg, acquired from one of his descendants by a distinguished Philippine collector.

ABOUT THE WORK

This is a wonderful example of the third state of the legendary spice map, Insulae Moluccae celeberrimæ sunt ob Maximam aromatum copiam quam per totum terrarium orbem mittunt, which was originally made in 1594 by Dutch mapmaker Petrus Plancius. The map promoted the founding of the powerful mega-trading corporation, the Dutch East India Company or the Dutch Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie (VOC). The Dutch East India Company brought the proverbial riches of the East to Europe: the most precious being the spices from East India and Southeast Asia. Thus, this spice map was key to its enterprises. The spice map has been described as “the most famous, most important, most beautiful, most wanted and one of the rarest of all maps of Southeast Asia.” This map is known as the “spice map” because of the drawings at the bottom of nutmeg, clove, and three colors of sandalwood. Cloves (Caryophilorum Arbor), nutmeg (Nux Myristica), and red and white sandalwood (Santulum) are sought after for culinary purposes, medicinal properties (nutmeg and red sandalwood), and for fragrance respectively. The map was produced as an advertisement for the voyages of the Dutch East India Company to the Spice Islands. It was copied from Portuguese charts into three states as described by Günter Schilder in the Monumenta Cartographica Neerlandica Vol. VII: a. “First state, published by Cornelis Claesz in Amsterdam 1592–94, with the engraver named as ‘Ioannes à Doetechum fecit.’ ” Schilder lists five known copies of this first edition, four in institutions and one in a private collection (recently sold at an auction, see below). b. “Second state, before 1609, with the engraver changed to ‘Joannes van Doetecum.’ ” Schilder lists five known copies of this second edition, all in institutions. c. “Third state, published by Claes Janszoon Visscher in 1617, with the engravers name replaced by ‘CIVisscher exudabat Ao. 1617.’ ” Schilder lists eight known copies of this third edition in institutions, and the number in private hands is believed to be small, approximately six to eight (including this one). It is important not to confuse these original Dutch states of the spice map with the still rare (but more common) pirated edition published in England in 1598 by John Wolfe and engraved by Richard Beckit. The engraving is noticeably less good on the English edition, and because unlike the Dutch edition it was published in Jan Huygen van Linschoten’s book of voyages, the Itinerario, where the Wolfe map is always folded and is usually cropped to the neat line. This example of the third state has full margins and is in its original/early color. It is believed to be the only one of two in the Philippines. The map should appeal to Philippine collectors because, apart from its inherent importance and beauty, this is the map from which Jodocus Hondius Jr. copied the Philippines for his miniature map Philippinae Insulae in the pocket atlas Tabularum Geographicarum Contractarum by Petrus Bertius. It is important and sought after by all collectors of maps of Southeast Asia (e.g., in Singapore and Malaysia), and also by Australian collectors because it is one of the first maps to show the tip of the continent labeled as “Beach” (see bottom left). These include cloves (Caryophilorum Arbor), nutmeg (nux Myristica) and red and white sandalwood (Santulum) sought after for culinary purposes, medicinal qualities (nutmeg and red sandalwood) and for fragrance respectively. —From a member of the Philippine Map Collectors Society