Frederick de Wit’s fine sea chart of the English Channel and neighbouring coastlines here in a later much more accurate state by Reiner and Joachim Ottems. The chart includes most of southern England, south Wales and the southeastern tip of Ireland along with northern France. The entire coast of France was re-engraved in the 1690s bringing the Dover straits more into line and forcing the erasure of the two vessels. The River Seine was added upriver to Poissy. The Cotentin Peninsular of Normandy also has a better north-south orientation. The Channel Islands are considerably improved with a better proportioned ‘Isle of Aurigny’ (Alderney) and toponyms are now given in French. Both Guernsey and Jersey are also much improved in outline.‘

Frederick de Wit (1630 – 1706) was born in Gouda and was one of the most prominent and successful map engravers and publishers in Amsterdam in the period following the decline of the Blaeu and Jansson establishments. In about 1675 de Wit published his sea atlas entitled ‘Orbis Maritimus ofte Zee Atlas’ from which this chart comes. Louis Renard acquired the plates from de Wit’s widow following de Wit’s death in 1706. In 1715 Renard published the ‘Atlas de la Navigation et du Commerce’, also in Amsterdam, and added his imprint to the title lower right.‘

The next edition of the atlas in 1739 was entitled ‘Atlas de la Navigation’, and is often assigned similarly to Renard, his imprint even remains on the maps. However, the title page bears the publisher’s names of Reiner and Josua Ottens. A further edition appeared in 1745 entitled ‘Atlas van Zeevaert’, this time with Dutch text, which bore numerous alterations including the removal of all references to Renard on the charts as found here. ‘Apud R & I Ottens’ is appended to the Latin title of this chart. Ottens also removed the plate number, altered sandbanks and soundings in the Dover Straits and North Sea. A further improvement was the addition of Roman numerals marking the relative time of the tides.‘

The Ottens family of mapmakers in Amsterdam was begun by Joachim Ottens (1663-1719). He had two sons, Reiner (1698-1750) and Joshua (1704-65), both joining the business. Following Joachim’s death in 1719, the business was continued by his widow and sons until her death in 1725. In 1726 the partnership of the brothers Reiner and Joshua was formed. They were not the most successful publishers and their stock was limited. Their atlases lack any date and are invariably entitled ‘Atlas Minor’.‘

The map is completed with an extensive network of rhumb lines, four beautifully engraved naval vessels, and two attractive title cartouches in both Latin and Dutch. The sea chart falls into a rich history of Dutch maritime works. They all appear to have been engraved by the highly skilled Romein de Hooghe. Provenance: private English collection. Carhart (2016) C16.5; Koeman (1967-70) IV Ren 3 no. 11 & III pp. 85-7; Tooley’s Dictionary (1999-2004).