1634 Blaeu Map of New England and the New Netherlands: First Edition!

This is the rare 1634 first atlas edition of Willem Blaeu's foundational map of the American Northeast, presenting the regions settled by the Dutch (New Netherlands) and the English (New England). Uniquely oriented to the west, Blaeu's map covers the American coast from Virginia, past New York and Long Island to Cape Cod, New England, and Quebec. The map is the first of the region to depict the fur-bearing and food animals of the region accurately, and it does so in profusion. Between this imagery and the fleet of trade ships heading towards the coast, the decorative elements vividly emphasize the region's resource wealth.

Adriaen Block's Map

This map is cartographically derived from data accumulated by Adriaen Block and other Dutch fur traders active in the early 17th century. Burden writes:

This important map was one of the most attractive of the Americas at the time. It is noted for the fact that its primary source is the first manuscript map of Adriaen Block, 1614. Indeed, it is the first full representation of it in print. It is one of the earliest to name Nieu Amsterdam. Block, a Dutch fur trader, explored the area between Cape Cod and Manhattan, examining the bays and rivers along the way. This helped to create an accurate picture of the longitudinal scale of the coastline. His manuscript map was the first document to delineate an insular Manhattan; it also provides the earliest appearance of Manhates and Nieu Nederland.

Despite the early year of the Block manuscript, it would be at least 15 years before Blaeu began work on the printed version. The Stokes Collection in New York possesses an example of the map on thicker paper without text on the reverse, which could be a proof issue, to which an estimated date of 1630 has been attributed.

Blaeu's Updates

Blaeu's map is not a slavish copy of the Block chart. Some of these changes could be accounted for by the fact that the surviving map is not the original and that the copyist omitted some place names referred to in the text of de Laet's work. Block drew on Champlain's map of 1612 for the depiction of the lake named after him, here named Lacus Irocoisiensis, referencing the Five Nations (Iroquois League). The eastward displacement of this lake from its true position north of the Hudson River is a testament to the extent to which the Dutch and the French were not sharing information.

Interesting Toponomy

Some nomenclature has its origins in Blaeu's second Paskaert of c. 1630, and others, such as Manatthans, in de Laet. The English colony of Nieu Pleimouth is identified. This and other English names along that part of the coast are largely derived from Smith's 1616 New England. Cape Cod is here improved over the Block manuscript by being reconnected to the mainland, the narrow strait having been removed. The coastline between here and Narragansett Bay, which can be clearly recognized, is not so accurate. Adriaen Blocx Eylandt leads us to the Versche Rivier, or Connecticut River, which Block ascended as far as possible. 't Lange Eyland is named; however, it is incorrectly too far east, being applied to what is possibly Fishers Island. De Groote Bay marks Long Island Sound. The Hudson River is still not named as such but is littered with Dutch settlements, and the failed Fort Nassau is here depicted and renamed as Fort Orange. He does, however, improve on the direction of its flow. Blaeu separates the sources of the Hudson and Delaware Rivers, which had been causing some confusion. Nieu Amsterdam is correctly marked as a fort at the tip of an island separated on the east side by Hellegat, or the East River. The coastline south of Sandy Hook also shows signs of improvement.

A Decorative Trailblazer

Blaeu's map was the first of the region to depict, reasonably accurately, the fauna of the northeast. The whole is adorned by deer, foxes, bears, egrets, rabbits, cranes, and turkeys. Beavers, polecats, and otters appear here for the first time on a printed map. The map also includes an engraving of a Mohawk village at the top right, loosely derived from the De Bry-White engravings. The impact of these decorative flourishes was widespread in the map trade: Jansson's map of the same region, derived from the 1630 De Laet, had shared its predecessor's Spartan aesthetic. Almost immediately after the 1634 publication of the Blaeu map, Jansson reworked his own map, copying wholesale virtually all the decorative elements of this map.

Publication History and Census

This map was engraved as early as 1630 and first appeared in Blaeu's atlas in the German edition of 1634. It remained a staple of Blaeu's atlases and was included in every edition of the firm's output until its dissolution in 1672. It appears in only one state. Consequently, the map is well represented in institutional collections, but the present example conforms typographically to that first 1634 edition of Blaeu's Novus Atlas, das ist, Welt-beschreibung and this is quite rare, appearing only once in OCLC at the Staatliche Bibliothek Regensburg. This edition is seldom seen on the market.