Dimensions: 50 cm (wide) by 58.5 cm (tall)

Coloring: Original hand-colored wash

Condition: Fine condition (with some minor old repair-see description below)

Description: An important and rare early map of the historic city Jerusalem by Matthaus Seutter (cartographer), T. Lotter (publisher), c.1740 Augsburg. The map shows a dramatic birds-eye view of Jerusalem and it environment during early 18th c. There are 254 vignettes depicting significant events and places that are mentioned in both the Old and New Testaments. The locations and vignettes are numbered and identified in the lower portion of the map in dense text (written in Latin and German). The map is hand-painted in beautiful wash colors. A truly rare and fascinating map of one of the holiest cities in the world!

Georg Matthaus Seutter (1647-1756) was one of the foremost important and prolific German map publishers of the 18th century. Seutter started his career as an apprentice brewer. Apparently uninspired by the beer business. Seutter left his apprenticeship and moved to Nuremberg where he apprenticed as an engraver under the tutelage of the prominent J. B. Homann. Sometime in the early 1700's Seutter left Homann to establish his own independent cartographic publishing firm in Augsburg. Though he struggled in the early years of his independence, Seutter's engraving skills and commitment to diversified map production eventually gained him a substantial following. Most of Seutter's maps were heavily base upon, if not copies of, earlier work done by thge Homann and Delisle firms. By 1732 Seutter was one of the most prolific publishers of his time and was honored by the German Emperor Charles VI with the title of "Imperial Geographer". Seutter continued to publish until his death in 1762.

Overall Condition Consensus: FINE CONDITION with crisp heavy paper with sharp fine line detailing and color. All text is clearly and completely legible, written both in Latin and German. The map has a rich age-warmed tone. The center crease/fold has old reinforcing along the back with old heavy paper. There is a vertically repair with heavy from the bottom margin.

Note: The thumb tacks seen in the photos used to hold my map does NOT PUNCTURE THE MAP. There is no puncture marks whatsoever. The tacks were only used to support under and around the map while I was photographing. Please request to my email (s.dong@hotmail.com) if you want photo verification of this.

References: Ritter, M. Seutter, Probst and Lotter: An Eighteenth-Century Map Publishing House in Germany., "Imago Mundi", Vol. 53, (2001), pp. 130-35.

Condition: FINE