European Maps
The research field of the history of hand coloured maps in Europe has been neglected so far. The existing individual single case studies provide knowledge about the use of colours in Europe. However, a general overview is missing. The subproject focussing on European maps aims to provide insights into map colouration from the late medieval times to the 19th century.
The material basis for our research is the collection of maps and atlases of the Hanseatic Business Archive Foundation. The Library of Commerce was founded in 1735 and purchased books and maps from mid 18th century on. Since 2008 the historical part of the library belongs to the Hanseatic Business Archive Foundation.
The collection of this institution holds hand coloured maps and atlases from the late 15th to 19th century. The collection is representative for the map production and colouring in Europe during the early modern period. Starting with medieval maps like that one’s of Bernhard Breydenbach’s (1440-1497) report of his pilgrim to Jerusalem (“Die heyligen reyßen gen Jherusalem zu dem heiligen grab, 1486”), especially early modern Dutch atlases are preserved: A Hondius-Mercator Atlas, published in 1619; a New Atlas of Johannes Janssonius (1588-1664), published between 1644 and 1649. Highlights of the collection are two copies of Joan Blaeu’s (1596-1673) famous Atlas Major, which appeared in French in 1667 and in Latin in 1665. Maps from German publishers are made available through the collector’s atlases of Johann Klefeker (1698-1775) and August Abraham Abendroth (1727-1786). Both collections keep maps from publishers like Johann Baptist Homann (1664-1724) and Matthäus Seutter (1678-1757), but they also contain maps, which were published in Hamburg by local printers. Maps of the collection of Johann Klefeker were probably coloured in Hamburg by the rector of the local Latin school “Johanneum”, Johann Hübner (1668-1731). Hübner established in the first half of the 18th century a trade with maps and was also responsible for the colour style of these maps. Hand coloured maps of the late 18th and early 19th century will be studied with collection of maps from the Landesindustrie Comptoir in Weimar of Friedrich Justin Bertuch (1747-1822) and with the Mittheilungen aus Justus Perthes' Geographischer Anstalt über wichtige neue Erforschungen auf dem Gesammtgebiete der Geographie (1855-1878). In this series maps were hand coloured up to mid 19th century.
Our aim is to figure out, how colour on maps changed from late medieval times to the 19th century, when chromolithography replaced hand colouring. Therefore we study colours on maps, but also the history of colourants, pigments and dyes in Europe.
Principal Investigator:
Research Associate: