The most detailed and accurate map of Haarlem of its day and one of the first official metric maps made outside France: a breakthrough in Dutch boundaries of every plot of land and the buildings on them, but also bridges, windmills, islands in the canals, the layout of gardens, parks and farm land, and even individual trees along the streets and canals. The areas outside the city’s ring canal are depicted in equally fine detail. It is based on the first metric survey of the city, the cadastral survey of 1822, but reflects changes made to ca. 1826. The city was just beginning its great nineteenth-century expansion, signalled by the demolition of some of the old Mediaeval city gates and the new expansion on the northern side planned by J.D. Zocher Jr. and executed in the years 1821 and 1822.
The map remains one of the most detailed ever made of Haarlem, and an essential source for any historical study of the city’s buildings, planning and development. It is also remarkably modern in style, reflecting the new French influence.French Revolutionary troops invaded the Netherlands in 1795 and the country remained under French control until 1814. French culture and Napoleonic administrative efficiency set down roots, and in 1816 the new Kingdom of the Netherlands (now including what is now Belgium and Luxembourg) became one of the first countries to introduce the metric system. While the Revolutionary Assembly in Paris had officially adopted it in 1795, it became mandatory for official purposes there only in 1837, so in 1820 the Netherlands became the first country to officially mandate the use of the metric system. The Haarlem cadastral survey made two years later was therefore one of its first applications.The French instigated the systematic, national cadastral survey of the Netherlands, in which the boundaries of each parcel of land were to be carefully measured, leading to a great development of Dutch city cartography in the early nineteenth century.
Serious work on the survey began in 1816, two years after the French withdrew, and Nautz (1785-1841) joined in the work around that time. In 1822 the city of Haarlem commissioned him, H.C. van Dooren and A. van Diggelen to survey the entire city, and they drew up maps of every part on scales of 1:1250 and 1:5000. These maps were updated from 1822 to 1832 and served as the city’s official detail maps. Beginning in 1827, Nautz drew up the present overview of the entire city in a single map, at a scale of about 1:2500. In 1828, on Nautz’s recommendation, the city entrusted the engraving to Willem Cornelisz. van Baarsel (1791-1854), one of Amsterdam’s leading map engravers. No doubt the fact that Van Baarsel had learned engraving under his father in France and then at the Dépôt Générale de la Guerre there played a role: he was not only a highly skilled engraver, but also fully competent to execute the map in the latest French style. The clear and simple depiction of the buildings by hatching (alternating directions to emphasize the boundaries between adjacent buildings, and with the buildings in the key highlighted by crosshatching in both directions) and the austere ovals decorated only by a bundle of leaves and the coat of arms, give the map a neo-classical feel, while the decorative fleur-de-lis and lettering add a new romantic touch. The Koning firm in Amsterdam printed 400 copies for the city of Haarlem.The production was an impressive feat, with the copperplate measuring 68.5 x 100.5 cm printed on a single enormous sheet of wove paper (70 x 101 cm or “Double Elephant,” the largest wove paper made in the Netherlands at the time) by J. Honig & Zonen, with the watermark “J H & Z” centred along one long edge.
Although the map is undated, its completion in April 1829 is documented. Curiously, the scale is erroneous. The map was supposed to be made on a scale of 1:2500, and was indeed executed at about that scale, but the use of the newly introduced metre seems to have caused some confusion. In the scale displayed (clearly intended to represent metres, though the units are not specified), 500 metres measures 97 mm, indicating a scale of about 1:5155, and the note above says “Schaal van 1 tot 5000,” apparently meaning on a scale of 1 to 5000.In very good condition and wholly untrimmed (with all four deckels intact), with only a couple tiny tears along the old folds (the map shows 1 horizontal and 3 vertical folds, not sharply creased). An impressive map of Haarlem, essential for any historical study and important for its great detail and accuracy, its use of metric measure and its refined style.
Map of Haarlem in 1827. Colored copper engraving by W.C. van Baarsel in Amsterdam. Source: Ferdinand Joseph Nautz(1785-1841) surveyor.
Nautz was a member of a group of surveyors hired in 1817 to map the Dutch towns in order serve as a basis for taxes. The hand-colored and hand-drawn maps were created in 1822 by and his colleagues H.C. van Dooren and A. van Diggelen. They are in the possession of the National Archives. For the town of Haarlem,Nautz created a set of maps of Haarlem where not only ownership rights, but also houses were drawn. Quite popular, these maps were reproduced by book sellers and sold at the time for 3 guilders to travelers as the first city-maps. This set of maps belongs to the city of Haarlem, and has been used as the basis for city planning as late as 1900. In the archive museum of Haarlem, a model of the city is on show based on this map. Photo of 2002 reproduction of one of many copies of the Nautz of Haarlem in possession of North Holland Archives.
Archiefdienst voor Kennemerland/Historische Museum Zuid-Kennemerland, Haarlem (Key: Handwritten on map)
List of Public Buildings:
A. Het Leprosen Pest en Dolhuis
B. De Kennemer of Nieuwe Poort
C. Het Hofje van Staats
D. Het Hofje van Nicolaas van Beerensteyn
E. Het Hofje van Noblet
F. Stalling voor het Garnisoen
G. Nieuwe Stalling voor het Garnisoen
H. Het Nederlands Gereform. Diakonie en Aalm. Armenhuis
I. Het Lutherse Hofje
K. Het lutherse Kerk
L. Het Frans Loenen Hofje
M. Het Comans Hofje
N. De Manege voor het Garnisoen
O. De Infirmerie voor het Garnisoen
P. Het Zyl Hek
Q. School en Vergaderkamer der Maatsch. tot Nut v.'t Algemeen
R. Magazyn voor het Garnisoen
S. Het Hofje van Gratie
T. Het Lutherse Wees- en Armenhuis
U. Het Zuider Hofje
V. De Stads Doele
W. Het Bruinings Hofje
X. Het Hofje van Alkemade
Y. Het Hofje der Vijf Kamers
Z. Het Wijnbergs Hofje