1694 Homann Schlaraffia Map: Accurata Utopiae Tabula

Accurata Utopiae Tabula, Das ist Der Neu entdeckten Schalck Welt..... Nürnberg, circa 1694. The first of the so-called Schlarraffenland maps, an early delineation of this imaginary satirical land popularized by German cartographers, Johann Baptist Homann and Matthaeus Seutter.

Published in Nuremberg at the beginning of the 18th Century, this map is a comic imaginary vision of human folly - debauchery, drunkenness and every known vice and indulgence - set within the geographical framework of a Utopian Land of Milk and Honey [Schlarraffenland]. Schlarraffenland is shown divided into 19 different regions with such titles as Prodigalia Regnum (Kingdom of the Spendthrifts), Mammonia (Land of Mammon), Magni Stomachi Imperium (Empire of the Fat Stomachs), Pigritaria (Land of Indolence), Lusoria Regnum (Kingdom of Games), Res Publica Veneria (Republic of Lust), Superbia Regio (Land of Pride), Stultorum Regnum (Kingdom of Fools), Lurconia (Land of Gluttony), Litigonia (Land of Litiguousness), Bibonia (Land of Drink), Iuronia (Land of Swearing), Senectae Regio (Kingdom of Old Age) and Iuventae Regnum (Kingdom of Youth) etc. A central lake is identified as Venerea Meer (The Sea of Lust) whilst the islands surrounding are amusingly identified with such names as Schmauchland (Smoking Land) and Schnupferland (Snuff Land), Insulae Necromanticae (Islands of Necromancy) and Schmarotz Insula (Island of Spongers) in the Seas of Trollops (Luder Meer) and Drunkenness (Mare Ebrium). At the top center, the shining light of the Holy City of New Jerusalem lights up the land of Terra Sancta Incognita - the Unknown Land of the Religious and Pious (ironic in that it remains unknown to humanity);  at the bottom lies the land of Tartari Regnum or Das Hollische Reich - the Ends of the Earth or Hell - where all inhabitants of Schlarraffenland are destined to end up should they not mend their ways.

The Schlarraffenland maps are closely linked to the German officer, Johann Andreas Schnebelin’s satirical account of the newly discovered land of Utopia, Erklärung der Wunder-seltzamen Land-Charten Utopiae, first published in Nuremberg in 1694. Reitinger’s recent investigations into the origins of this series of fantasy maps and its sources have shed considerable new light on the numerous literary and cartographic links between Pieter Schenck, Johann Baptist Homann and Johann Andreas Schnebelin at the end of the 17th Century. It's extremely likely that Schnebelin based his account on this map, which he had in front of him as he laid down his detailed description of the different regions of the newly-discovered land, suggesting that the map was already in print by 1694. The map itself lacks any indication of its author. The original attribution of authorship to the Dutch engraver and cartographer, Pieter Schenck was first given by the Dutch bibliographer, Cornelis Koeman in his Atlantes Neerlandici Vol III, in which he cited as evidence the map’s appearance in editions of Schenck’s Atlas Contractus. This is somewhat counterindicated by the fact that this is the only German language map in the entirety of Schenk’s cartographic output and that Schenck’s Atlas Contractus is often found containing maps by other contemporary European cartographers. Reitinger notes the slight title differences between the first two states of the copperplate and the omission of a German umlaut in the printed title of the Unbekante Lander der Frommen [sic] (Terra Sancta Incognita), at the top center of the map. Although Schenk had many German connections and was a frequent visitor to the Leipzig Buchmesse, Reitinger’s investigations reveal that the map most likely originated in the Homann publishing house in Nuremberg, where many of the later editions were printed. This example appears to be an early if not the first state of the plate. Examples of this early state appear to be extremely rare and uncommon.

Dimensions: 56 cm by 47 cm. Original, old coloration. Some old vertical creasing and some minor soiling and spotting in blank margins. One or two minor tears to the sheet edges, and a 2 centimeter lacuna at bottom center fold, but overall a very good example. Archivally framed.

References: C. Koeman Atlantes Neerlandici III p.119; cf Hill #70 (Seutter); Hoppen Cartographica Curiosa #89, Franz Reitinger: Johann Andreas Schnebelin’s Erklärung der Wunder-seltzsamen Land-Charten Utopiae [Verlag Rockstuhl, Bad Langensalza, 2004] pp. 296 ff. & 334 ff. etc & Abb.1