This is the fifth and final state of the map, identified by the inclusion of the date ‘1652’. It was one of the last maps published by Claes Jansz Visscher before his death that year. 

The principal areas of geographical difference between the two maps lie in the Americas. Since the beginning of the seventeenth century, driven by the search for a Northwest Passage, there had been substantial advances in the understanding and mapping of North America, based on the voyages of Henry Hudson, Thomas James, Luke Foxe, Sir Thomas Button, and others. These 'discoveries' together with the new understanding of the geography of the St. Lawrence River reported by Samuel Champlain were redrawing the hitherto unknown interior of North America.

The world is presented on 

’s projection, with a grid of latitudes and longitudes, dissected by the Equator and the meridian running through the middle of the Atlantic. While retaining some myths, such as Greenland being attached to North America, a great south land “Magellanica sive Terra Australis Incognita”, and the Strait of Anian linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, the cartography is contemporary. The 'discovery' of Hudson's Bay is shown, as is the course of the St. Lawrence River; the Straits of Jacob Le Maire and Ferdinand Magellan appear; the peninsula Beach, based on the reports of Marco Polo, is in the region that would become Australia; and the early Dutch 'discoveries' in what would be confirmed as northern Australia extend towards New Guinea. California appears correctly as a peninsula, but the extended Californian coastline continues northwards to the Straits of Anian, only a few short miles from northeast Asia.

Two small polar projections appear in each corner, re-stating the existence of the Straits of Magellan, Le Maire, and Anian. The title is on a banner across the top of the map inside the decorative border, a legend detailing the discoveries of Columbus, Vespucci, Ferdinand Magellan, Francis Drake, 

, Sebald De Weert, George Spilberg, and Jacob Le Maire, appears within a decorative cartouche upper left. Within the legend, the dates 1492 and 1499 have been re-engraved to correct a recurring error from earlier issues and transferred from Visscher’s companion double-hemisphere world map of 1638.

The original engraver of this map was probably Pieter Goos (1615–1675) who produced and signed the companion double-hemisphere world map published a year earlier in a similar style. Goos would go on to publish one of the most influential marine atlases of the Dutch Golden Age (see SC-A-1675-Goos-Zee

).	

The Visscher (or Fisher) publishing house was founded by Claes Janszoon Visscher the Elder (1587–1652) and expanded by his son, Claes Janszoon Visscher II. His grandfather had been a fisherman, and fishermen motifs are a recurring theme throughout Visscher’s engravings; his monogram includes a fishhook. By 1605, Visscher the Elder was working for 

 on his monumental world map printed on twenty plates (see SC-TM-1606-Blaeu-WorldMap). Blaeu also published a number of Visscher’s individual etchings from designs by David Vinckboons, who may have trained Visscher in the art of etching and engraving. 

By 1608 Visscher was signing his name as the creator and publisher of his own works. In 1611, he acquired a house in the prestigious Kalverstraat, between Dam Square and the Stock Exchange, and from there built up an impressive stock of maps, city views, and other topographical prints. He became one of Amsterdam’s most productive and innovative publishers, producing thousands of prints in-house and acquiring thousands more second-hand plates to become one of the largest publishing houses in Europe. 

Claesz Janszoon Visscher’s ‘Twelve Caesars’ map is considered one of the triumphs of the Dutch Golden Age of Mapmaking. It was first issued in 1639 as a broadsheet map and went through five separate states. It was larger than many of the folio atlases of its day, so its inclusion was often limited to composite atlases or in tall paper examples of Visscher’s ‘

 Minor’ that contributed considerably to its scarcity.

It is the magnificent borders incorporating equestrian portraits of the Twelve Caesars that make this map so unique. In each corner, there is an allegorical figure representing the continents while the sides are adorned with vignettes of costumes and city views.

Claesz Janszoon Visscher’s “Twelve Caesars” map is considered one of the glories of the Dutch Golden Age of Mapmaking. It was first issued in 1639 as a broadsheet map and went through five separate states. It is larger than many of the folio atlases of its day, so its inclusion was often limited to composite atlases or in tall paper examples of Visscher’s '

 Minor' which contributed considerably to its scarcity.

Double-page engraved copperplate map, on a Mercator projection, surrounded by vignettes, with contemporary hand-colour in full.



Visscher's 'Twelve Caesars' World Map