A Amsterdam, Ce vendent chez Johannes van K[eulen, M]archant de Cartes Marines, au bout du Pont Neuf, [...1682].
Engraved titlepage with letterpress, rare but with damage. Printed area 510 x 280mm, 20 x 11". Bottom right torn with loss to letterpress, abrasion affecting figures in the sky, damaged top left.
The decorative titlepage to a French edition of the second volume of Jan van Keulen's important sea-atlas 'Nieuwe Lichtende Zee-Fakkel', first published the year before. It depicts various Europeans gathered around a large globe, with one holding up a blazing torch, representing the atlas, 'New Sea-Torch'. Others examine two large charts. Above are allegorical figures and the signs of the Zodiac. The atlas contained 130 charts by Claes Janszoon Vooght and launch the van Keulen family business, which lasted into the C19th. The second volume was dedicated to the seas of north and western Europe, with western coasts of Africa to the Canary Islands. Very important image of mapmakers and explorers pouring over the globe and charts.
[Ref: 22435]  £280.00