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Rodney Shirley,
As you can see from the string of correspondence, I have personally examined
the four copies of the Polyglot in NYC. The only one without a verso
letterpress text is from the copy in the Jewish Division of the NYPL. The
maps are all the same, from Plate #1. My copy and Thomas Suarez's copy of
the Montanus Antiquitates Judaicae contain the 2nd state of Plate #1.
The William Gross loose map has nothing on the verso. It is duplicate of the
map in your book (Pl. 107) I assume that we will label these maps as Plate
#2. Attached you will find a copy of an e-mail I received from Simon Dewez
of Australia. He mentions a State 3 of Plate #1. I know nothing of this, do
you? He calls the "Tully" map a variant. I wonder if we can all agree as
follows, based on definitions from the world of print authorities. When a
Plate of a print has changes made in the plate it is called a new state.
When the plate is completly re-engraved, it is called a new plate not a
variant. I hope you feel better and good luck in London. COPAC lists 17
copies of the Polyglot in the London area. There are only 16 copies
catalogued in the entire USA. Al
!. The Polyglot bible has Plate 1, State 1.
2. The Antiquitates has Plate 1 State 2
3. The Tulley and Gross copies have Plate #2
Alfred Moldovan, MD
444 Central Park West
New York, NY 10025
Tel. 212.865.2828
Fax: 212.865.3111
--- Begin Message ---
Dear Al,
I know Nigel (Tully) and Rodney well, but neither had any connection with
the variant I had.
The map was a single uncoloured sheet and I sold it to a private collector
in 2002.
There are several plates/states/variants of the Montanus map (I have
recorded six), but most are very uncommon and I haven't always had access to
the publication so dating them is a little difficult.
Certainly the first state of the first plate as noted in Shirley is the one
that first appeared in the bible. I have had an example of that bound in to
the bible (in original binding).
The salient features of this first state compared with the version you have
are: -
1. 1571 in the top left text panel is on the same line as "bebat" (the word
"descri/bebat" starts on the second last line).
2. The wind heads' eyes face down.
3. Iektan not Ioktan (as in your variant).
4. Much more engraved sea in the Antarctic regions.
5. The landmass below South America appears with an uncharted southern
coastline, whereas in your variant this is shown as an island.
In plate 1, state two, the only change is that 'gentes' is now squeezed in
just below 'Iektan'.
In plate 1, state three the letter A is added in the lower right hand margin
(no other changes). This was published in 1593 in Benedictus Antiquitatum
Judaicuram Libri IX...Auctore Benedicto Aria Montano Hispalensi...'.
Your variant appears to be a totally new plate. The text is similar but
quite different. Iektan is spelt Ioktan, wind heads look to the side, island
below South America, different angles to the coastlines, different engraving
line in the seas and so on.
There are two other variants, one is beautifully engraved and has vignettes
illustrating different scenes from the bible. These replace the wind heads.
The other is a woodblock version which has a totally un-engraved sea. The
windheads look straight ahead, there are spelling errors and the landmasses
south of South America and the East Indies are now clearly engraved as
islands.
I cannot help you with the dating of these last variants only to suggest
that the woodblock is the latest. Whether your variant or the one with the
bible scenes were earlier than the woodblock I can't say for certain,
although I would expect that they were. The paper of the bible-scene variant
appeared to be 17th century.
Kind regards,
Simon
Simon Dewez
[email protected]
Gowrie Galleries
Matcham, NSW 2050
NSW Australia
ph: (61 2) 4365 6399
fax: (61 2) 4365 6096
www.gowrie-galleries.com.au
----- Original Message -----
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Sent: Tuesday, March 22, 2011 6:27 AM
Subject: Montanus world map
Simon,
Glad to hear from someone about this map. Rodney Shirley, in his Mapping of
the World mentions a Mr. Tully from Australia who advised him of the variant
Is he connected to you? What more can you tell me about the map you had
handled. Where is it now? Was it a single sheet, in a book? What is your
opinion on the "state". There certainly is no question that there are three
states, what do you think is the chronology? Al
Alfred Moldovan, MD
444 Central Park West
New York, NY 10025
Tel. 212.865.2828
Fax: 212.865.3111
--- End Message ---
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