Finland Map 1742 Seutter Grand Duchy of Finland Print - Gulf of Bothnia, Aland Islands, Lake Ladoga, St. Petersburg

This large-format map of the Grand Duchy of Finland was published in Augsburg by Georg Matthaeus Seutter around 1742 and gives detailed mapping of the Finnish frontier after the Great Northern War. It extends from the Aland Islands in the west to Lake Ladoga and the environs of St. Petersburg in the east, and it captures the Gulf of Bothnia, the Gulf of Finland and the myriad lakes of the Finnish landscape. The imprint carries the Vicariate privilege, granted to Seutter by the Imperial Vicariate Regency Court on July 31, 1741, in the interregnum that followed the death of Emperor Charles VI. The sheet is large and strikingly colored, and its cartouche and bright provincial washes give it a presence that suits a wall in a hall, study or library.

The subtitle describes a duchy partly subject to Russia and partly to Sweden. The Great Northern War of 1700 to 1721 had stripped Sweden of its place as the dominant power, and although the Treaty of Nystad returned most of Finland to Sweden, the Karelian Isthmus and the trading city of Vyborg passed to Russia. St. Petersburg, founded by Peter the Great in 1703, is marked in the lower right, shielded by the naval base of Kronstadt. The provinces, among them Nylandia, Tavastia, Satakunda and Savolax, are set apart in bright original wash colors, and Abo, Helsingfors and Torne are carefully shown.

A collector of Baltic cartography, a family with roots in Finland, or a reader of Russian and Swedish history will find a striking gift here. TheMapVault's Lugtenburg map of 1711 shows the country during the war, whereas this Seutter sheet shows the frontier it left behind. Like every print in the collection, it ships unframed and is available in a full range of sizes, from a compact desk piece to a large-format statement print. It would suit a hall or a library.