LIST ON EBAY BOX 21-01-25 BERGUES FRANCE 1649 BLAEU UNUSUAL ANTIQUE ORIGINAL COPPER ENGRAVED CITY VIEW ANTIQUE ORIGINAL COPPER ENGRAVED CITY VIEW OF BERGUES Condition: --not specified Ended:Jul 12, 2022 , 7:13AM Winning bid: US $90.00 BERGUES FRANCE 1649 BLAEU UNUSUAL ANTIQUE ORIGINAL COPPER ENGRAVED CITY VIEW Description Berga S.ti Winoci dimensa delienata ad vivum expressa in hoc denique proiecta а Iacobo de la Fontaine. Description: Striking and highly detailed fine unusual 1649 Blaeu's copper engraved map featuring an aerial plan of the French City of Bergues. The view shows the city with his buildings, churches, streets, gardens, bridges, town walls, moat and surrounding landscape. A strapwork title cartouche, an armorial, a compass rose, a large strapwork key catouche, frame-style borders, a mileage scale and a strapwork dedicatiory cartouche adorn the sheet. Latin text on the verso. The town's name derives from the Dutch groene berg, which means "green hill". According to legend, St Winnoc, son of the Breton king, retired to Groenberg, a hill on the edge of the coastal marshes (see Marcae below). His establishment soon developed into a small monastery. In 882, when the Normans began their incursions, the Flanders count Baudouin II built primitive fortifications. Later, about 1022, count Baudouin IV built Saint-Winnoc church and interred the relics of St Winnoc there. This church formed the basis of an abbey. Trade was aided by proximity to the sea, which had not yet receded to Dunkirk, and the abbey. Bergues was chartered in 1240, and its independence was later expressed in the construction of a belfry. It became a port and textile center of regional importance, and part of the Hanseatic League. Its wool market began in 1276 and over the following centuries it was fortified and maintained its independence from France. In 1583, Bergues was besieged and conquered by Alexander Farnese, but king Philip II of Spain allowed it to be rebuilt, establishing the present appearance of the town. Bergues became a major port city and eventually was attached to France by the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1668. Louis XIV later developed Dunkirk, and Bergues was eclipsed as a major port. After the French Revolution, its decline continued. Bergues was devastated by bombardment in World War I, and again in 1940 during the Battle of Dunkirk. The city was entered on 2 June that year, and 80% of it was ruined during World War II. Date: 1649 ( undated ) Dimension: Paper size approx.: cm 60,9 x 51,9 Condition: Very strong and dark impression on good paper. Paper with chains and wiremarks. Map contemporary handcolored. Wide margins. Corners partially missing. Small foxing and browning. Small marginal tears. Map folded. Conditions are as you can see in the images. Mapmaker: The Blaeus: Willem Janszoon, Cornelis & Joan Willem Jansz. Blaeu and his son Joan Blaeu are the most widely known cartographic publishers of the seventeenth century. Willem Jansz. (also written Guilielmus Janssonius) = Willem Janszoon Blaeu, was born in Uitgeest (Netherlands), near Alkmaar in 1571. He studied mathematics under Tycho Brahe and learned the theory and practice of astronomical observations and the art of instrument- and globe making. In 1596 he came to Amsterdam where he settled down as a globe-, instrument- and map-maker. He published his first cartographic work (a globe) in 1599 and probably published his first printed map (a map of the Netherlands) in 1604. He specialized in maritime cartography and published the first edition of the pilot guide Het Licht der Zeevaert in 1608, and was appointed Hydrographer of the V.O.C. (United East India Company) in 1633. After thirty years of publishing books, wall maps, globes, charts and pilot guides, he brought out his first atlas, Atlas Appendix (1630). This was the beginning of the great tradition of atlas-making by the Blaeu's. In 1618 another mapmaker, bookseller and publisher, Johannes Janssonius established himself in Amsterdam next door to Blaeu's shop. It is no wonder that these two neighbours, who began accusing each other of copying and stealing their information, became fierce competitors who did not have a good word to say about each other. In about 1621 Willem Jansz. decided to put an end to the confusion between his name and his competitor's, and assumed his grandfather's sobriquet, 'blauwe Willem' ('blue Willem'), as the family name; thereafter he called himself Willem Jansz. Blaeu. Willem Janszoon Blaeu died in 1638, leaving his prospering business to his sons, Cornelis and Joan. Of Cornelis, we only know that his name occurs in the prefaces of books and atlases until c. 1645. Joan Blaeu, born in Amsterdam, 1596, became partner in his father’s book trade and printing business. In 1638 he was appointed his father’s successor in the Hydrographic Office of the V.O.C. His efforts culminated in the magnificent Atlas Major and the town-books of the Netherlands and of Italy – works unsurpassed in history and in modern times, which gave eternal fame to the name of the Blaeu's. On February 23, 1672, a fire ruined the business. One year later, Dr Joan Blaeu died. The fire of 1672 and the passing away of the director gave rise to a complete sale of the stock of the Blaeu House. Five public auctions dispersed the remaining books, atlases, copperplates, globes, etc., among many other map dealers and publishers in Amsterdam. The majority was acquired by a number of booksellers acting in partnership. In the succeeding years, the remaining printing department was left in the hands of the Blaeu family until 1695 when also the inventory of the printing house was sold at a public auction. That meant the end of the Blaeu's as a printing house of world renown.