Early Dutch Sea Chart of Guiana

Johannes Van Keulen, Amsterdam, 1684 :
Pas kaart van Kust van Guiana... Excellent. 20 x 23 inches. $1500.

Classic Dutch Baroque mariner's chart centered on the mouth of the Amazon.

Although the van Keulen firm enrolled in the booksellers' guild in 1678 and continued to publish for over two centuries, through 1885, early in their enterprise this ``mathematical practitioner,'' Claas Jansz Vooght, was hired to design charts for their sea-atlas.

The firm's association with Vooght was clever, for despite the prominence of the van Keulen firm in Amsterdam at this time, their technical esteem seems to have been limited. Usually the most highly regarded mapmakers were retained by the Dutch East India Company; but when Joan Blaeu II resigned his post as hydrographer with the Company in 1704, Joannes was not hired in his place. A decade later his son Gerard, having proven himself competent to create his own charts, was given the honor of that position.