Manuscript map of Kotlin Island

Double-page MANUSCRIPT map (18 ½ x 27 ¼ inches) of Kotlin Island in the Baltic Sea, ca. 1730 or later; pen, ink, and watercolor on Dutch paper likely from the Herderskind Mill of Cornelis and Jacob Honig in Zaandijk (Strasburg lily in mannerist cartouche countermarked "C&I HONIG"); map includes 8-point compass rose, empty title cartouche with scroll elements, trompe-l'oeil legend, and scale in rectangular cartouche with marbling. Condition: excellent with limited or no foxing; left and upper margins cut; unidentified collector s stamp in red ink in lower right quadrant on verso. Provenance: collection of Sir Albert Richardson (1880-1964). Very attractive plan of Kotlin Island and Kronstadt at the head of the Gulf of Finland, with English annotations in upper right cartouche ranging from the location of the officers' houses (N) to the Lighthouse of Tolbukhin (R). Situated in the East of the longitudinal island, the Tolbukhin or Tolbaakin Lighthouse first opened in 1719. As the oldest lighthouse in Russia, it was of paramount importance in the military and naval development of Kronstadt which was founded by Peter the Great as early as 1704 to close access to the adjacent capital of St. Petersburg. One of Kronstadt's first governors was the Royal Scots Navy Officer Thomas Gordon who, refusing to take an oath of abjuration to King George I, resigned his commission and joined the Russian Navy in 1717. He held the position on Kotlin Island from 1727 until his death in 1741 and it is tempting to connect the present map with his tenure or its immediate aftermath.