Levinus Hulsius extremely rare map of Southeast Asia and the Spice Islands.

Levinus Hulsius (c. 1550–1606) was a notable figure in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, recognized for his contributions as a publisher, printer, linguist, lexicographer, and dealer of fine scientific instruments. Born in Ghent, Flanders, Hulsius pursued studies in languages and mathematics. Due to religious conflicts, he relocated to the Netherlands and later to Germany, where he established his career.

Eight years after Theodor de Bry began the publication of his Great Voyages', Levin Hulsius, stimulated and inspired by the success of the Bry's work, began the publication of a similar collection in quarto.

Like Theodore de Bry, Hulsius is renowned for abridging and translating early accounts of voyages and travels into the German language, published ultimately in twenty-six volumes. As with de Bry, his work is copied from the best and most up to date texts and maps that were available at the time. His work provided German-speaking audiences with access to important explorations and discoveries of his time. Hulsius is credited with having exercised better judgement in his selections and translations than the de Bry.

In addition to his publishing endeavors, Hulsius was involved in the creation and distribution of scientific instruments. He authored works on the construction of geometrical instruments, reflecting his expertise in this area.

For a comprehensive understanding of Hulsius's contributions, the Bibliographical Essay on the Collection of Voyages and Travels Edited and Published by Levinus Hulsius and His Successors by Adolf Asher (1839) offers detailed insights into his publishing activities.

Hulsius's multifaceted career as a publisher, linguist, and instrument maker underscores his significant role in disseminating knowledge during a transformative period in European history.

From:

Itinerario
Voyage ofte Schipvaert van
Jan Huygen van Linschoten
naar Oost ofte Portugaels Indien
Amsterdam, 1596
[with several re-issues up until 1638]

Jan Huyghen van Linschoten, a Dutchman born in Delft, was secretary to the Portuguese Archbishop in Goa between 1583 and 1589. These experiences were recorded in the Itinerario, which was first published in Dutch (Amsterdam: 1595-1596), and contains the most comprehensive account of the East and West Indies available at the end of the sixteenth century. As well as including important travel accounts from contemporary Portuguese, Dutch and Spanish sources, it is the first work to include precise sailing instructions for the Indies and also includes an account of America.

The Itinerario provided detailed practical information on how to get to and carry on the trade with America and India. The work was indispensible to sailors on the route to the Indies; it provided a dictionary of exotic commodities, of national trading methods, etc. Linschoten’s work, along with Hakluyt’s, served as a direct stimulus to the building of the vast English and Dutch overseas empires. Legend has it that copies were given to every ship sailing to India to use as a log-book, as is confirmed in many surviving ship's journals.

Monumenta Cartographica Neerlandica VII - Jan Huygen van Linschoten and his Itinerario

For the publication of Van Linschoten's Itinerario, Cornelis Claesz did not settle for the thirty-six illustrations that had been exquisitely engraved by the Van Doetecum family. The publisher felt he should spare no expense to make the 'heerlijck werck' [masterly piece], as he called it, as accessible as possible to the readership interested in geography. Therefore, he had a number of 'nette, perfecte caerten' [beautiful and perfect maps] made for his own account. Besides a world map, five detail maps were included in the Itinerario and the Beschryvinghe. The world map is the map by Petrus Plancius that had already been engraved in 1594 by Joannes van Doetecum Jr. and published by Cornelis Claesz. But in some copies of the 1596-99 editions of the Itinerario, this map was replaced by another world map. The substitution was arranged in co-operation with the Antwerp publisher Joan Baptista Vrients and the replacement map was engraved by the Van Langren brothers.

The five detailed maps of Van Linschoten's Itinerario, all of which were engraved by Arnold Floris and Hendrik Floris van Langren, cover a large proportion of the non-European world known at the time. According to the map titles, these detail maps were composed with the aid of the best Portuguese and Spanish charts and rutters. These maps clearly reveal the influence of the set of maps that Cornelis Claesz had already published previously (1592-94), for which Petrus Plancius was responsible. Plancius's maps were copied for inclusion into Van Linschoten's work. These copies differ only in minor details from the originals.

(Günter Schilder)

Antique Maps - A Collector's Guide

Van Linschoten, born in Haarlem, is heard of in the service of the Portuguese Archbishop of Goa where he spent five years between 1583 and 1588.

On his return to Holland he produced a History of his travels, important for the inclusion of maps from Portuguese sources, at that time rarely available to Dutch – or any other – cartographers. The maps (including a world map by Petrus Plancius) engraved by van Langren, are highly decorative with large cartouches, the arms of Portugal, compass roses, rhumb lines and sea monsters. Some are illustrated with views of prominent places or islands.

(Moreland and Bannister)

Old books, maps and prints by Levinus Hulsius
Old books, maps and prints by Jan Huygen van Linschoten