Title: Nova Virginiae Tabula.
Second edition.

Scale: Bar scale indicates 12 Miliaria Germanica.

Engraver: D. Grijp.

Publisher: [Amsterdam], Willem Blaeu. Printer: [Amsterdam, Willem Blaeu].

Dimensions: Sheet 50 x 59.2 cm.; plate 38 x 48.5 cm.; image 37.5 x 48.1 cm. Engraving. Hand colored

In: Willem Blaeu, Le Theatre du Monde, ou Nouvel Atlas Contenant les Chartes et Descriptions de tous les Pais de la Terre, Amsterdam, 1638-1640.

Nova Virginiae Tabula, 1638-40

In 1618 the Flemish map publisher Jodocus Hondius, Jr., commissioned a re-engraving of the 1612 John Smith map for inclusion in his atlases. After Hondius' death in 1629 the Dutch mapmaker Willem Blaeu bought his stock of copperplates and began to include the map, with an amended publisher's statement, in most of his atlases. On the copy shown here the shadow of the first imprint "Ex Officina Judoci Hondii" is still discernible, particularly underneath the "G" of Guiljelmi.

Blaeu's atlases had a much wider circulation than did Smith's publications on Virginia. This version of the John Smith map became the most used source of information on the Chesapeake Bay area in the first half of the 17th century. It was derived from the first state of Smith's map; thus it did not add to the geographical knowledge of the area. The depiction of the land features was done less carefully than on the prototype. For example, there is just one type of tree represented and mountains have been placed with less discrimination, e.g., on the Eastern Shore - where they do not belong.

The map is well executed and very pleasing to the eye, a hallmark of the products of Flemish and Dutch mapmakers of the 17th century.

References:
C. Verner, 1968.

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