1726 Stoecklein Map of Taiwan or Formosa and Fujian, China

Early look at Taiwan.

This map is one of the earliest, if not the earliest, obtainable printed maps of Taiwan or Formosa Island. It appeared in Joseph Stöcklein's 1726 compilation of Jesuit missionary letters, which revealed much of what the Jesuit Fathers had learned of some of the remotest parts of the world.

A Closer Look

The map presents the western part of Taiwan, the Pescadores or Punghu Islands, and the Fokien or Fujian coast of China. Several ancient Taiwanese cities are noted, including Keelung, Tainan, and Kaohsiung. Like most early maps of Taiwan, only the Chinese portion, west of the Central Mountain Range (Zhongyang Range or Chungyang Range), offers significant detail. The tribal lands east of the Central Range are not only neglected but fade into the unknown. Another curiosity is the cartographer's decision to ghost in an extended Taiwan coastline leading north of Keelung. This gives evidence to just how little was known of Taiwan at the time. The only comparable map is Van Keulen's great map of Formosa, also published in 1726, which details the entire island. Of course, Van Keulen's association with the VOC (Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie) offered him considerable access to cartographic material, most notably the Johannes Vingboons manuscript map, that would have been out of reach of the missionaries.

Publication History and Census

This map was printed in 1726 to accompany Stöcklein's Allerhand So Lehr-als Geist-reiche Brief, Schrifften, und Reis-Beschreibungen. The books are well represented in institutional collections; we do not see the separate map in OCLC. It appears on the market from time to time.

Cartographer

Joseph Stöcklein [Stoecklein] (July 30, 1676 – December 28, 1733) was a Jesuit priest, missionary, and scholar active in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. He was born in Oettingen, Germany and joined the Jesuit order in Vienna around 1700. He served as a priest in military encampments where he became popular as a preacher. Afterwards he became the head of the Jesuit library in Graz, Switzerland, a position he maintained for six years. During this tenure he began work on his opus, the Welt-Bott, a vast compilation of Jesuit missionary letters and narratives translated into vernacular German intended both to glorify the priesthood and share valuable information about the world. Today this work is exceedingly rare.   Further Details...

Source

Stoecklein, J., Allerhand So Lehr-als Geist-reiche Brief, Schrifften, und Reis-Beschreibungen, (Augsburg and Graetz: Philipp, Martin and Johann Veith Erben Buchhaendler) 1726.    

Condition

Very good. Wide margines. Platemark visible. Blank on verso.