Description

6 sheets, steel engravings in black and red, originally dissected in 4 segments and mounted on linen, with originally pasted tags verso, each 38 x 45,5 cm (14,9 x 17.9 inches); 1 sheet, steel engraving in black and red, originally dissected in 2 segments and mounted on linen, with originally pasted tags verso, 17 x 45,5 cm (6.7 x 17.9 inches); ); 1 sheet (title), steel engraving in black and red, originally dissected in 3 segments and mounted on linen, with originally pasted tags verso, 19,5 x 48 cm (7.6 x 18.9 inches); 1 sheet (key map), steel engraving 31 x 25 cm (12.2 x 9.8 inches); Contemporary marbled paper slipcase, red spine with embossed gilt title and old library label, inserted contemporary marbled paper folded sleeve.  Condition: slightly stained, light foxing, old collector’s stamps and inventory numbers on verso of all the maps and on the front of the title page, slipcase slightly worn on corners, key map with pin-size holes in margins. Overall in a good, clean condition.

These complete set of 7 maps, printed in black and red, was issued in 1832 for the administrative purposes in Belgium Holland, and parts of Germany. The highly detailed engravings, made with extreme precision, showcase types of roads and canals, different types of borders and regional administrative centers. The tiles, mounted on back of each map read: Norden, Stasbourg-Karlsruhe, Amsterdam, Bruxelles, Köln, Paris, Oldenburg-Bremen.  

The maps were originally made for a never finished gigantic project of a 220-sheet atlas of Europe by Joseph Edmund Woerl (1803-1865), the planned sheets of which are represented on the accompanying key map.  

The whole atlas was never published, but the maps made for the project were probably to release the financial burden sold separately, in sets with additional title pages, such as our example, or in atlases of 
 
parts of Europe such as Atlas von Central Europa with 60 sheets from 1838 and Carte de la France, an atlas with 25 sheets, issued in 1850.  

Joseph Edmund Woerl was a German map maker and geographer. He started making maps already in gymnasium, which he attended in Munich. From 1825 he worked as an engineer and geographer in Besançon, and from 1827 at the Cotta’s institute for lithography in Munich. The following year Woerl moved to Freiburg, where he took over the cartographic department of the Bartholomä Herder‘s printing and publishing house, an institution, which he took over after Herder’s death and after marrying his daughter. Joseph Edmund Woerl sold for the publishing house in 1847 for financial reasons and worked as a teacher in Konstanz until his death.  

As separate sheets appear on the market a complete set of 7 with 2 accompanying sheets is rare. Our set is housed in a decorative slipcase and comes from a private collection of a nobleman.