The Lightning Columne, or Sea-Mirrour, contaigning the Sea-coasts of the Northern, Eastern and Western Navigation: setting forth in divers necessarie Sea-Cards all the Ports, Rivers, Bayes, Roads, Dep

£35,000 · Offered by Maggs Bros Ltd

Rare pilot book, compiled for sale into the English market, this copy used, and annotated, on board ship by an English mariner in 1722 and 1723. Theunis (or Antonie) Jacobsz (who used the name Lootsman to distinguish himself from a rival publisher) first ventured into chart-publishing in about 1644, and quickly established himself as a leading figure, although his career was cut short by his early death. The business was continued by his widow, as his sons were underage. Jacob and his brother Caspar subsequently took over the business. After Jacob’s death, Caspar continued alone. The Lootsmans are a lesser known publishing house; their output of pilot books and charts deserves to be better known, but they were functional in execution and usage, compared to the more elaborate work of rival publishers, such as Pieter Goos, Frederick de Wit or Johannes van Keulen, which more readily found a place in the libraries of the day, and survive in greater numbers in modern times. Koeman records neither edition of the two volumes; the first falls closest to his Jac 43, a 1676 edition, but with the text in a different, earlier, setting, with the same page and chart count but different catchwords and with the almanac for 1675 to 1686. The Mediterranean volume pre-dates the recorded editions, the text setting (numbered to 118, signed A-Q4) not recorded. This copy was owned by a seaman, and used aboard ship, which may account for the absence of the Dutch section. He annotated the verso of se

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