1134 - Nicolaus Visscher, Map of Gibraltar with plan of Ceuta and view of the Rock, circa 1710

Nicolaus Visscher, Map of Gibraltar with plan of Ceuta and view of the Rock, circa 1710 (1649 – 1702), copper engraving on paper, map, circa 1710, title cartouche upper right “Plan de la Ville de Gibaltar”, inscribed therein “a Amsterdam par Nicolas Visscher, avec Privilege”, below it the Dutch title “Platte Grond der Stercke Stad Gibralter” with the address “Nunc apud Petrum Schenk Junior”, scale of miles lower right in the main image, map of the Gibraltar peninsula with the town and fortifications, below a plan of Ceuta and an elevation view of Gibraltar with the Rock, centre fold, condition commensurate with age, stained, margins torn with losses, partly backed, several folds, image 43x52 cm (HxW), overall size 52.5x61.5 cm (HxW) Nicolaes Visscher II (1649–1702) ran the Amsterdam map publishing house of the Visscher family; after his death his widow Elisabeth Verseyl continued the business until 1726, when the copper plates passed to Peter Schenk. Peter Schenk the Younger (1693–1775) continued the family publishing house in Leipzig and reissued maps from acquired printing plates. The plan was made shortly after the capture of Gibraltar by the British in August 1704; the title cartouche gives the year 1706. It derives the name of the town from the Moorish commander Tarik, “Gibal-Tarik”, the mountain of Tarik. The inset map shows the fortified town of Ceuta on the African side of the strait, which then belonged to Spain, and the view shows the Rock of Gibraltar with ships before it.