Cartographica Helvetica

Summary

Peter H. Meurer:

An engraved map by eleven-year-old Johann Christoph Homann (1703–1730)

Cartographica Helvetica 33 (2006) 17–20

Summary:

The job description of a map engraver has developed slowly and has sometimes taken intricate turns during the last few centuries. Of course this profession could not have been carried out without some kind of basic training. The type of training, however, varied widely. Learning an artistic trade was by no means the standard. This article highlights the map Patriarchat Alexandrinus, which shows Alexandria and Constantinople, two of the patriarchies of the eastern Mediterranean area extending to the Euphrate River. Johann Christoph Homann engraved this map in 1715 in Nurnberg at the record-breaking age of eleven.