1760 Seutter (2 results)

Very good. Some wear and loss along edge. Creasing in margins, occasionally intruding into image. Dissected and laid on linen. Size 23.25 x 38.75 Inches. A spectacular c. 1760 map of Saxony by Matthäus Seutter, engraved by Tobias Conrad Lotter. Brightly colored and richly illustrated, it focuses on the region's important silver mining operations, which were a major source of silver throughout Europe dating back to the Middle Ages. A Closer Look Saxony is displayed as divided into 25 'prefectures' and other administrative divisions, giving some hint of the complexity of authority in the region, as with most parts of the Holy Roman Empire. Cities, towns, villages, waterways, roads, forests, mountains, fortresses, and other features are indicated throughout. Dresden appears at top towards right (subdivided at the Elbe River into Neu Dresden and Neustadt). Other cities are similarly colored red and presented with fortifications, as with the great university town of Freiburg (Freyburg). Dresden, Freiburg, and other cities in the region were in large part sustained and developed due to the silver mines which are the map's thematic inspiration. Lively illustrations depicting the silver mines surround the map. Around the title cartouche are earthly miners delivering silver ore below and mythological figures smelting silver above. In the background is a mine and several nearby towns. At bottom-left, mine supervisors (duix) present their product to a wealthy figure, likely a merchant or nobleman. At bottom-right is a magnificently detailed drawing of the various parts of a mine operation, both above and below the surface, highlighting the importance of waterpower to mining in the era before steam power. A seemingly minor but important detail is the crossed swords southeast of Dresden, near Pirna. These mark the site of the Battle of Maxen, on November 20, 1759, part of the Third Silesian War, which itself was tied to the global Seven Years' War. The battle was a resounding success for the Austrians against the Prussians, but the entire conflict resulted in a Prussian victory, confirming its control of Silesia. More directly for our purposes, this symbol and date help to distinguish this state of the map from others. The Silver Mines of Saxony The Ore Mountains, or Erzgebirge / Krunoho?í, spanning Saxony and the northwestern part of Bohemia are particularly blessed with silver, and for centuries served as one of the main sources of the metal in Europe. Beginning in the 12th century in a forest just outside of Freiburg, silver mines operated throughout this region well into the 20th century. The industry saw its ups and downs, including what may have been the first speculative financial bubble in history in the late 15th century. Eventually, silver from the New World overtook Saxony. The Thirty Years' War (1618 - 1648) was also extremely destructive for the mining industry. Still, the mines recovered their previous status somewhat in the late 17th and 18th centuries and helped to develop metallurgy as a science through the Bergakademie Freiberg (Freiberg Mining Academy). Silver mining continued into the 20th century and has been partially revived in recent years. It remains an important part of the region's identity, as with the Mining Town Festival (Bergstadtfest) held every June in Freiburg. The Erzgebirge / Krunoho?í Mining Region was declared a World Heritage Site in 2019. Publication History and Census This map was engraved and published around the year 1760 by Conrad Tobias Lotter, based on an earlier edition engraved by Lotter and ascribed to Matthäus Seutter, who had died by the time of publication. Though undated, the aforementioned reference to the Battle of Maxen means it must date from 1760 or later (the publication note below the title also suggests a date after Seutter's death in 1757). Variations on this map dating back to c. 1735 appear in multiple OCLC listings, though usually with a slightly different title than.

Very good. Printer's creases in top and bottom margins. Size 20 x 23 Inches. A scarce c. 1760 Russian-language map of Lake Ladoga, St. Petersburg, and environs, produced by Johann Elias Grimmel, based on an original published by Matthäus Seutter. It depicts the region as St. Petersburg was growing considerably and attracting intellectuals from throughout Europe, including Grimmel. A Closer Look Coverage includes the Gulf of Finland, Lake Ladoga, the Neva River, and the area around St. Petersburg, and the sparsely populated forests and swamplands to their south. The Volkhov River, flowing into Lake Ladoga, runs up the right side of the map. The regions of Karelia, Ingermanland (Ingria), and Novogorod are labelled, though the latter's namesake city (now Veliky Novgorod) lies just to the south beyond the scope of this map. Rivers, roads (including the all-important road to Moscow), towns, fortresses, forests, farmlands, churches, and more are indicated throughout. Color-coding is used to distinguish settlements from farmland and forests. Placenames are given in the Cyrillic and Latin alphabet, with the latter being transliterations in the German or Polish style, and some being translations into Latin. This area, much of which had been part of the Republic of Novgorod or, more recently, Sweden, was undergoing dramatic changes at this time. Having captured these lands, Peter the Great aimed to build a grand new capital on the banks of the Gulf of Finland, a process that began in 1703. Battling a harsh climate and adverse terrain, thousands of conscripted serf laborers crafted the city out of swampland over decades, with many dying in the process. Peter pressured and cajoled the nobility to relocate from Moscow to St. Petersburg, while also recruiting intellectuals and technical advisers from throughout Europe, especially the German lands. In the end, the new city helped Peter consolidate power and opened up a major avenue for exchange between Europe and Russia, drastically altering the course of Russian history. Publication History and Census Using Seutter's map (of the title indicated in the cartouche, 'Conspectus recens et accuratus magnae partis Lacus Ladogae') as a basis, Johann Elias Grimmel led a team from the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences in translating and making slight alterations to the original (Grimmel led similar projects for other foreign-produced maps of key areas of Russia). Dates of both Seutter's original and the Russian edition vary; the Russian National Library dates the compilation of the Russian edition to 1741 - 1742, while some catalog listings range into the 1760s. At least one other printing of the Russian edition exists, with a different and somewhat less elaborate cartouche, which includes Grimmel's name. The only known institutional holdings of the Russian edition, regardless of cartouche and signature, are with Yale University, the University of Edinburgh, University College London, the Universitätsbibliothek Bern, the Universitäts-und Landesbibliothek Darmstadt, the National Library of Finland, and the Russian National Library. References: OCLC 54583247, 1293733566, 605167651.