3773 - Homann’s Heirs, Map of Central Germany

Homann’s Heirs, Map of Central Germany in the upper left-hand corner, a cartouche depicting a mining scene, inscribed here as “Circuli Super Saxoniae pars Meridionalis... Per Homannianos Heredes”, depicting the area between Potsdam in the north, the River Spree in the east, Pilsen in the south and Heiligenstadt in the west; a flat-coloured copperplate engraving, c. 1740; with the usual crease in the centre, slight signs of age; dimensions of the image approx. 47.5 x 55 cm, sheet dimensions approx. 54 x 62 cm. Information on Homann’s heirs: Johann Baptist Homann (1664, Kambach - 1724, Nuremberg), German copperplate engraver, publisher and Jesuit, founded his own publishing house, the ‘Homännisches Landkarten-Offizin’, around 1702; active in Vienna, Leipzig and Nuremberg, amongst other places; following his death on 1 July 1724, his business passed to his son Dr Johann Christoph Homann (1703-1730), who appointed his two managing directors, Johann Georg Ebersberger (or Ebersperger) and Johann Michael Franz, as heirs to the business; following his death in 1730, the company continued under the name ‘Homannsche Erben’ (French: Héritiers de Homann; Latin: Homannianos Heredes) and only ceased trading in 1848 upon the death of its last owner, Christoph Franz Fembo. Source: Thieme-Becker and the internet.