Geografie 1969, 74, 34-42
Comenius's Map of Moravia from 1664
The author of the still most demanded early map of Moravia was Jan Amos Komenský. His map was printed from several engravings by different editors, e. g. by N. J. Visscher, G. Blaeu, H. Hondt and many others. The print from Visscher's engraving bearing the title "MORAVIAE NOVA ET POST OMNES PRIORES ACCURATISSIMA DELINEATIO. auctore I. A. Comenio." from 1627 (in the text referred to as KMM A 1a) is considered as the oldest Comenius's map of Moravia (KMM). This engraving served for prints known under designation KMM A 1a, b... to e, A2 and A3 (Zapletal 1963, p. 9). In 1961 K. Kuchař discovered in Wrocław (Poland) a print KMM from Visscher's engraving from the year 1664. Since it had a different impress than the dated KMM A 1a originating also from 1664, it was marked KMM A4. We have succeeded in getting for the map collections of the Department of Geography of the Faculty of Science of the J. E. P. University in Brno a print conform to that from Wrocław. I designate it in my paper as KMM P. All up to now known prints from engravings of the types A and P have the impress on the right side at the bottom. It begins with following words "Noviter edita ..." (Kuchař 1959, p.36). When comparing the prints of KMM P (illustration on the fig. 1) and KMM A 1e (illustration on the fig. 2) I have found a whole series of differences which could been divided into three groups: 1. differences in the whole arrangement of engravings, 2. differences in the description from the graphological and grammatical points of view, 3. differences in the proper contents of the map (especially in physical and situation elements). Having evaliated these differences and compared the way of producing the engravings I came to the conclusion that: a) there were two Visscher's engravings, i. e. the types P and A; b) one engraving served as the model for the other and it was nearly truly imitated; both were engraved by Abraham Goos; c) KMM P was made from the older, i. e from the original engraving; d) there existed an older print of Comenius's map of Moravia, older then the known print of KMM A 1a from 1627, and it may still exists; e) this supposed oldest print opens the problem of the word "noviter" again; the supposed print made off the engraving P could have the impress "Noviter edita 1623-26"; it is possible, however, that it read "Per Nicolaum Iohannidem Piscatorem edita, Anno Domini 1623-26" or similarly.
