JANSSONIUS, Joannes (1588–1664) — *Novissima Poloniae Regni Descriptio*. Amsterdam: Joannes Janssonius van Waesbergen and Moses Pitt, 1680.

JANSSONIUS, Joannes (1588–1664) — *Novissima Poloniae Regni Descriptio*. Amsterdam: Joannes Janssonius van Waesbergen and Moses Pitt, 1680.

Hand-colored copperplate engraving from the period, paper, 435 × 538 mm, on a sheet measuring 535 × 630 mm. Blank verso. A few stains in the margins, traces of atlas folding, tears along the atlas fold on the lower and upper margins. Second-quality condition.

The map depicts the Kingdom of Poland, stretching from the Baltic Sea in the north to Moravia in the south, and from Brandenburg and Saxony in the west to Lithuania and Podlasie in the east. The most important cities are marked, including Warsaw, Kraków, Wrocław, and Königsberg. Rivers, regional boundaries, forests, and administrative divisions are depicted in great detail and distinguished by color. An ornate Baroque cartouche in the lower left corner features the coat of arms of Poland, flanked by two figures in period costumes; a linear scale is located below. A dedication cartouche in the lower right corner bears a dedication to Nicolaus Pahl (1595–1649), a Gdańsk councilor, mayor, and royal burgrave.

The map, first published around 1650, replaced Hondius’s *Polonia Nova et Accurata Descriptio* in Janssonius’s atlases. A cartographic grid was added in the second edition. The map was included in *The English Atlas* (Amsterdam and Oxford, 1680–1683), published by Janssonius’s successor, Johannes Janssonius van Waesbergen, for Moses Pitt.

An attractive piece of this important 17th-century map of Poland.

Imago Poloniae, K81/2.