Price: £1,000.00

• Date: c.1720
• Condition: AA
• Colour: Original
• Size: 56 x 47 cms.

Accurata Utopiae Tabula, Das ist Der Neu entdeckten Schalck Welt.....

The first of the so-called Schlarraffenland maps, an early delineation of this imaginary satirical land popularised by German cartographers, Johann Baptist Homann and Matthaeus Seutter.

Published in Nuremberg at the beginning of the 18th Century the map is a comic imaginary vision of human folly - debauchery, drunkeness and every known vice and indulgence - set within the geographical framework of a Utopian Land of Milk and Honey [Schlarraffenland]. Schlarraffenland is shown divided into 19 different regions with such titles as Prodigalia Regnum (Kingdom of Extravagance / Prodigality), Mammonia (Land of Mammon), Magni Stomachi Imperium (Empire of Fat Stomachs), Pigritaria (Land of Indolence), Lusoria Regnum (Kingdom of Usury), Respublica Veneria (Republic of Lust), Superbia Regio (Land of Pride), Stultorum Regnum (Land of the Deaf), Lurconia (Land of Gluttony), Litigonia (Land of Quarrels), Bibonia (Land of Drink), Iuronia (Land of Oath-swearing), Senectae Regio (Land of Old Age) and Iuventae Regnum (Land of Youth) etc. A central lake is identified as Venerea Meer (The Sea of Lust) whilst the islands surrounding are amusingly identified with such names as Schmauchland (Smoking Land) and Schnupferland (Snuff Land), Insulae Necromanticae (Islands of Necromancy) and Schmarotz Insula (Island of Spongers) in the Seas of Trollops (Luder Meer) and Drunkeness (Mare Ebrium). At the the top centre, the bright beacon of the Holy City of New Jerusalem lights up the land of Terra Sancta Incognita - the Unknown Land of the Religious and Pious (& a poignant irony being that it remains unknown to humanity !) whilst at the bottom lies the land of Tartari Regnum or Das Hollische Reich - the Ends of the Earth or Hell - where all inhabitants of Schlarraffenland are destined to finish up, if unable to reform their ways.

The series of Schlarraffenland maps are closely linked to the German military commander, Johann Andreas Schnebelin’s satirical account of the newly discovered land of Cockaigne, Erklärung der Wunder-seltzamen Land-Charten Utopiae, first published in Nuremberg in 1694. Franz Reitinger’s recent investigations into the origins of this series of fantasy maps and its sources have thrown considerable new light on the numerous literary and cartographic links between Pieter Schenck, Johann Baptist Homann and Johann Andreas Schnebelin in the latter years of the 17th Century. It seems extremely likely in fact that Schnebelin based his account on this map, which he had in front of him as he laid down his detailed description of the different regions of the newly-discovered land, suggesting thereby that the map was in fact already in print by 1694. The map itself lacks any indication of author. The original attribution of authorship to the Dutch engraver and cartographer, Pieter Schenck was first given in the Dutch carto-bibliographer, Cornelis Koeman in his Atlantes Neerlandici Vol III, in which he cited as evidence the map’s appearance in editions of Schenck’s Atlas Contractus. This despite the fact that this is the only German language map in the entire collation of Schenk’s cartographic output and that Schenck’s Atlas Contractus is often found containing maps by other contemporary European cartographers. Reitinger notes the slight title differences between the first two states of the copperplate and the omission of a German umlaut in the printed title of the Unbekante Lander der Frommen (Terra Sancta Incognita), at the top centre of the map. Although Schenk had many German connections and was a frequent visitor to the Leipzig Book Fair, Reitinger’s investigations reveal that the map in fact most likely originates from the Homann publishing house in Nuremberg. In any event this example appears to be the first state of the plate. Examples of this early state appear to be extremely rare and uncommon.

Some old vertical creasing and some minor soiling and spotting in blank margins. One or two minor nicks and tears at sheet edges & short repaired separation at top fold, but overall a very good example.

Ref: C Koeman Atlantes Neerlandici III p.119; cf Hill #70 (Seutter); Hoppen Cartographica Curiosa #89, Franz Reitinger : Johann Andreas Schnebelin’s Erklärung der Wunder-seltzsamen Land-Charten Utopiae [Verlag Rockstuhl, Bad Langensalza, 2004] pp296ff & 334 ff etc & Abb.1