Correcting the Dates and States of an Important Lithuanian Map

Dated 1749 Nieprzecki/Mayer/Homann Heirs: "MAGNI DVCATVS LITVANIAE..." in the 1st State. Sourced from the National Library of Denmark and Copenhagen University Library: http://www.kb.dk/maps/

This important map of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (Magni Dvcatvs Litvaniae), dated and first published in 1749 in Nuremberg (Norimbergæ), Germany, by Homann Heirs (Homannianorum Heredum), was created by Tobias Mayer (Tobia Mojero), mathematician, astronomer and mapmaker, based upon a manuscript map by Warsaw College Jesuit mathematics teacher Jean Nieprzecki (Ioanne Nieprecki). It is considered the most accurate successor to the dated-1613 map "MAGNI DVCATVS LITHVANIAE..," engraved by Hessel Gerritsz, based on survey drafts prepared by Maciej Strubicz when he was Royal Geographer to Hungarian King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania Stefan Báthory, under instructions by Prince Nicolas Christophe Radziwill (Lithuanian: Mikalojus Kristupas Radvila), and first published in Amsterdam by Willem Blaeu.

I only recently became aware of the fact that my description of the illustrated map, as well as for the 11 other versions of this map at my static site, LithuanianMaps.com, and at my successor site, https://lietuvoskartografija.lt/lithuanianmaps/, are mostly wrong. I am asking for the descriptions to be corrected, but as many of my readers are map collectors and/or dealers, I wanted to get out the facts as soon as possible.

This all came about as I began a process recommended by my friend Laura Ten Eyck, member of the New York Map Society, Director of the renowned second floor gallery at the Argosy Book [and Map] Store in New York City: https://www.argosybooks.com/browse-maps.php, and PBS "Antiques Roadshow" appraiser: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/roadshow/appraisers/laura-ten-eyck/. She suggests that map collectors prepare for the inevitable dispersal of their collection -- to family and friends, to map dealers or to institutions -- by affixing a label to the back of framed maps with their source, date acquired, purchase price, and any other information that would be useful to the next owner.

I realized, looking at the 12 versions of the map on my map sites, that I had never categorized my own version of the 1749 map, purchased in April 1999, by "State," or version, of the plate, and that six discreet States were published at various times. I AI-assisted Google-searched for the map, and came to the site of perhaps the largest map dealer in the US, which had a listing for a version of this map which had been sold. The listing included a description of the six states of the map by a prominent European collector/researcher. Comparing the descriptions to my own map, I quickly realized that my map was not included! Either I had a rare, undocumented version of the map, or the version descriptions were inaccurate.

I next went to my go-to and valued friend, Algimantas Muzikevičius, in Lithuania, whom I and many others consider the foremost authority on printed maps of Lithuania and Poland. He quickly sent me definitive images and information about this map, which I used to create, and now share with you, the following:

Turns out that my own version of this seminal map is the 4th State, the most common version (more than three versions a year appearing in auctions), published around 1768, but still bearing the 1749 date. I can't wait for my corrections to be implemented on https://lietuvoskartografija.lt/lithuanianmaps/, but now you don't have to.