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Dear all

In August the Dutch National Library will present an atlas-factice with 460 magnificently couloured maps by the famous Dutch map illuminator Dirck Jansz. van Santen on its website. The atlas in four volumes was compiled at the end of the 17th century by the Amsterdam merchant Dirck van der Hagen. It includes maps by Blaeu, Janssonius, De Wit and Visscher, as well as some rare `news-maps' by the Haarlem engraver Romein de Hooghe.

The maps will be accompagnied by some short explanatory remarks, in Dutch and English, on their content and orign. That is to say if we are able to give that information; notwithstanding an extensive bibliography on Dutch mapmaking, we in fact know very little about the sources that Amsterdam map publishers used for composing and copying their atlas maps. Fortunately there is Map-hist for solving two `burning' questions:

1. What is the relation between the J.W. Laure(n)berg who was involved in mapping the Danish empire during the first half of the 17th century, and the J. Laurenberg who made maps of Albania and Macedonia. (see answer by Henrik Dupont)
2. Can anyone trace this view (from the north) on the city of Edinburgh. The heading of the view (41x82 cm) is: D' Stadt Edenburg (41x82 cm). It contains no further information on the engraver and publisher. On thursday you can find this view on the Map-Hist Illustration page.

Answer on first question hy Henrik Dupont:

It is the same man and his correct name is Hans Willumsen Lauremberg cartographer to the king of Denmark professor in Mathematics and several others studies He traveled in Europe until he in 1618 was called to his birth town Rostock where he was prof in latin poetry and a few years later he published a great topographic book Graecia antiqua with 31 maps translated and published 1660 by Pufendorf in latin, in french 1661. He also made a sketch map of Meckelnburg and the town of Rostock in 1623 he was called to Sorø Academi in Denmark to be a professor in Matthematics with obligations also to Map Denmark It seems that he was succesful in making Seeland and other parts of the eastern Denmark but they where never really official printed and he was expelled as a official cartographer and was replaced by Johannes Mejer. There were negociations about printing 150 maps from his hand but only a detailed map of the town Ringsted is known today and he was removed from mapping in 1647.

Even all the original drawing from Lauremberg are gone the results are to be seen in the maps of Denmark in Blaeus atlasses and maps. He is also known as a writer and poet he was born in Rostock 1590 and died in Sorø in 1658 where he was also burried.