Novus Atlas in the Collection of Printing and Book Binding in the Museum of Arts and Crafts in Zagreb - the Problem of Attribution and Dating of Geographical Maps

A collection of 99 engraved maps inserted in two volumes featuring a luxurious book binding equipment from the Collection of printing and book binding in the Museum of Arts and Crafts in Zagreb were believed to be Johannes Janssonius’s (1588 – 1664) edition of the Novus Atlas, approximately dated in the 17th century. Even though the volumes had identical covers and numerous Janssonius’s labels, their content, which included maps of different provenance, was an incentive to re-investigate their attribution. This article brings forth the results of a detailed investigation by the use of the comparison and correlation method, which brought about the new attribution and date of creation for the Novus Atlas. Within the two volumes, alongside the lesser known names, there are the names of publishers, cartographers and map engravers such as Abraham Ortelius (1527 – 1598), Henricus Hondius (1597 – 1651), Pierre Duval (1619 – 1683), Frederick de Wit (1629 – 1706), Pierre Mortier (1661 – 1711) and others, which shifted not only the set attribution but also the dates of the maps’ creation to the period from the late 16th to the first half of the 18th century.