The Oddest Antique Map of Lithuania

1638 Matthäus Merian: "MAGNI DVCATVS LITHVANIÆ..." The Wroblewski Library of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences: elibrary.mab.lt/

Matthäus Merian was the first to flip the seminal dated-1613 Gerritsz-Blaeu map "MAGNI DVCATUS LITHVANIAE" on its side, on a plate 31 x 37 cm, so that compass-North is on the right instead of at the top, but he was far from the last. Willem Blaeu revised Merian's map, created a larger 44 x 52 cm plate, added his name to the cartouche, and published it beginning 1648. After the Blaeu print shop burned down in 1672, that plate was sold at auction in 1674 to Frederick de Wit. The Blaeu firm kept selling their version of the map from copies surviving the fire until 1695. Meanwhile, Wit replaced Blaeu's name in the cartouche with his own, eliminated a secondary cartouche in the middle of the map, made changes to Lithuania's geography, and published it from 1697 - 1704. Pieter Mortier bought Wit's plate in 1710, added the line "ex Officina P. Mortier" to the cartouche, publishing it until 1721. After 1721, the P. Mortier imprint was removed, and a new line was added beneath the cartouche: "ex Officina I. COVENS et. C. MORTIER."

So there were four versions of the Blaeu North-on-the-right plate, as Wit authority George Carhart lists in his beautiful book: https://www.amazon.com/Frederick-Concise-Reference-Explokart-Cartography/dp/9004299033. Here's how to tell them apart by the main cartouche, and the dates they appeared in atlases, courtesy of Carhart's research for States 2 - 4:

1638-50 Matthäus Merian: "MAGNI DVCATVS LITHVANIÆ..." 31 x 37 cm. The Wroblewski Library of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences: elibrary.mab.lt/

1st State: 1648-95 Willem Blaeu: "MAGNI DVCATVS LITHVANIÆ..." 44 x 52 cm. National Library of the Netherlands: https://www.kb.nl/en

2nd State: 1697 - 1704 Frederick de Wit: "MAGNI DUCATUS LITHUANIÆ" National Library of Poland, via www.mapywig.org

3rd State: 1710-21 Frederick de Wit/Pieter Mortier: "MAGNI DUCATUS LITHUANIÆ" Lithuania Poland Maps: https://lpmaps.lt/

4th State: After 1721 Frederick de Wit/Covens & Mortier: "MAGNI DUCATUS LITHUANIÆ" Sanderus Antique Maps and Books: https://sanderusmaps.com/

As a result of my research, I learned that the Wit map I bought in 2000 is the 4th State, and that the Merian map I bought in 2010, now at my son's apartment, started the chain of odd-looking maps of Lithuania. And, of course, now I need to have the dates and states for these maps corrected at https://lietuvoskartografija.lt/lithuanianmaps/