The van Keulen
family operated a chart-making and publishing firm in Amsterdam for
nearly 200 years. It was founded by Johannes van Keulen who registered
his business as a “bookseller and cross-staff maker.” Under his
management the Nieuwe Lichtende Zee-Faakel (New Shining Sea Torch) was
begun in 1681. It was expanded to five volumes, and finally to six
volumes with the addition of material from the secret files of the
East India Company. In 1693 van Keulen acquired the stock of Hendrik
Doncker.
See the reference book on the van Keulen dynasty..
In 1678, Johannes registered with the Amsterdam Booksellers Guild as
a "bookseller and Cross-staff maker" By this time, most of the
Amsterdam chart makers and instrument makers, like Blaeu, Janssonius,
Hondius, Goos, and Doncker, had either closed down or were at the end
of their fame. As a result, Johannes van Keulen had the opportunity to
obtain copperplates, privileges, and stocks of many of his former
competitors. Besides manuals and cross-staffs, Johannes produced his
famed "ZeeAtlas"(Sea Atlas, 5 volumes), and "ZeeFakkel" (Sea pilotbook,
5 volumes). ZeeFakkel was produced in numerous languages, including
English, French, Italian, and Spanish.
Gerard van Keulen, son of Johannes, born 1678, took over from
his father in 1714 and continued to expand the flourishing firm.
Gerard’s accomplishments include hundreds of manuscript charts, which
are now kept in a number of European collections.
In 1726, Johannes van
Keulen, son of Gerard, took over the business. In 1743, Johannes was
appointed "Official Chartmaker of the Dutch East Indies Company". The
title appears to be nothing more than a formality, however, since the
firm had been supplying charts to the East Indies Company for many
years prior, and considering that the van Keulen family of Amsterdam
had an interest in the East Indies Company. Still, van Keulen
Chartmakers held the official title, until the East Indies Company was
dissolved in 1799.
In 1753, Johannes finished his grandfather'’ work,
by publishing the sixth volume of "ZeeFakkel". This volume contained
the previously kept secret cartography of The East India Archipalago.
Jan de Marre, examiner of the Amsterdam Chamber of the East Indies
Company, provided van Keulen with the data for the ZeeFakkel sixth
volume, and it is also believed that de Marre was involved in the van
Keulen chartmakers decision to start production of the newly invented
Hadley’s Octants in 1744.
Following the death of Johannes van Keulen(1770), the company
was run by his widow and their two sons, Cornellis Buys and Gerard
Hulst van Keulen. By this time, they also owned an anchor factory,
which was managed separately.
In 1778, with the death of brother
Cornellis, Gerard Hulst van Keulen would assume the head of the
chartmaker firm, adding sextants to their inventory for sale. Gerard
was one of the three original members of the "Dutch Commission for
Longitude at Sea", installed by the Dutch Admiralty in 1787. In 1788,
Gerard van Keulen published the first "Dutch Nautical Almanac", and
annual publication of same continued until 1885.
When Gerard Hulst van Keulen died in 1801, his widow ran the
firm until her death in 1810, at which time Johannes Hulst van Keulen
became the last van Keulen to run the firm.
In 1823, Jacob Swart
entered the service of the van Keulen firm, and in 1844, with the death
of Johannes Hulst van Keulen, head of the van Keulen Chartmakers was
passed to Jacob Swart. When Jacob died in 1866, he was succeeded by his
son, Jacob Swart, Jr.
Under Jacob, Jr’s reign, the firm lost all of its
standing in the Nautical world, and the possessions of the firm were
sold at auction in 1885, bringing 200 years of "DeGekroonde Lootsman"
to an end.
See the reference book on the van Keulen dynasty..
See samples of charts by van Keulen for sale.
Dictionary of map makers
An illustrated list of makers of maps, charts and globes from the earliest time of cartography to present.
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