DANCKERTS, Justus (1635-1701). Novi Belgii Novaeque Angliae nec non Partis Viginiae Tabula. [Amsterdam, ca 1655].

Engraved map, 466 x 553 mm image (sheet 482 x 593 mm). Figural cartouche incorporating view of "Nieuw Amsterdam op't Eylant Manhattan," canoes, animals, and a Native American fort. (A few short tears occasionally just touching image, some repaired on verso.)FIRST EDITION, FIRST STATE, before the names for Philadelphia and Pennsylvania were added, and before the course of the Delaware River is updated. According to Stokes, the first state of Danckerts' map depicts the same period as Visscher's map of the same title (1651-1655). Stokes describes numerous differences between Visscher and Danckerts' maps, and ultimately concludes "that the N. J. Visscher, in its earlier form at least, antedates the earlier Danckers." Burden dates the map later than Stokes or Tooley; he presents three possible periods during which this map could have been produced: the early 1660s, when Danckerts joined the family business and tensions were growing between the English and the Dutch; in 1666, following the death of Danckerts' brother; or following the recapture of New Netherlands by the Dutch in 1673. Burden believes it was likely produced in 1673, "as the first state is of some rarity, [and the second was not] produced until c.1684." EXCEEDINGLY RARE: Stokes cites only his copy ("no other copy of this state is known"), though he mentions that he "once saw one in the hands of a dealer"; we trace only one other copy in an institution (at Princeton University Library). No copies of the first state have appeared on the market at auction. Stokes Vol.I, pp.148-151; Tooley America, p.285 (first state).