[PEETERS, Jacob. Korte Beschryvinghe, Ende Aen-Wysinghe der Plaetsen in desfn Boeck, met hunnen teghenwoordigen Standt, pertinentelijck uytghebeldt, in Oostenryck, Antwerp, 1686.]

Flemish engraver and book-seller Jacob Peeters (1637-1695) was descended from a family of artists. He kept a shop in Antwerp, where he “sold every kind of prints and engravings, small and larger geographical maps, drawn in ink, coloured, as well as of a larger size...” Peeters is known mainly for his “World Atlas”, published in 1692.

This work shows firstly scenes from the siege of Vienna (1683) and portraits of Western European rulers. These are followed by cities, ports and locations related to the Venetian-Ottoman wars of the last quarter of the 17th century. There are plates showing Austria, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the Ionian sea as well as Istanbul, the Peloponnese, Crete, Malta, the northern coast of Africa, the eastern Aegean, Asia Minor, Egypt, the Holy Land, Syria, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia.

The album forms part of a series of dithyrambic publications, which exalted the brilliant victories of the Venetians on the Ottomans. Similar books were published by the Accademia Cosmografica degli Argonauti, which had been founded by Vincenzo Coronelli.

The plates of the edition were based on drawings by Jacob Peeters' brother, Johannes or Jan Peeters (1625-1677), who made several views of cities, later etched by Merian. Johannes was a pupil of their older brother, Bonaventura Peeters, also a very well-known painter who specialized in seascapes.

Most of the plates were etched by Gaspar Bouttats (1640-1695), a well-known books merchant and engraving master. The description of each city and subject is given at the beginning of the edition, while each copy of the work includes a different number of plates.

Written by Ioli Vingopoulou