Fricx, Carte des Pays-Bas, 1712

Eugène-Henri Fricx is the founder of an important printing dynasty in the 18th century in Brussels. He was born in 1644 in the heart of Brussels (in the Saint-Géry district). His father, Henri Fricx, was a merchant, not a printer or bookseller, but he ended up in a printer's family through his marriage to Barbe Mommaert. On 16 May 1689, Eugène-Henri Fricx became ‘Imprimeur de sa majesté’ , a privilege granted to him by the ‘Conseil privé’ of the King of Spain. Although he had been active as a printer since 1670, it was not until 1703 that Fricx began printing and selling his first cards. Hoewel de eerste cartografische producten van Fricx interessant zijn, ten minste vanuit esthetisch oogpunt, heeft hij zijn reputatie vooral te danken aan zijn beroemde “cCarte des Pays-Bas” (kaart van de Nederlanden). Deze kaart is in feite een bundel van verschillende soorten kaarten, zoals wordt uitgelegd in de titel “Carte des Pays-Bas et des frontières de France, avec un recueil des plans des villes, sièges et batailles données entre les hauts alliés et la France.” Deze titel bevindt zich op de titelpagina van wat wordt beschouwd als de eerste editie van de bundel van Fricx. This edition was published in 1712, when 23 of the 24 topographical maps of the southern Netherlands were ready. The twenty-fourth map was not published until 1727. Fricx constantly added maps and always changed the geographical information on the existing maps, as can be seen in the numerous changes to the table of contents on the title page, the date of which, however, never changed. These maps were compiled into an atlas. Moreover, from a cartographic point of view, the atlas consists of two rather different parts. The first contains topographic maps, the second city plans and plans of sieges and battles. The topographical part in which the Southern Netherlands are depicted was eventually supplemented with 4 topographical maps (which brought the total to 28 maps). The second part of the atlas contains 47 maps of battlefields and fortifications, dating from 1706 to 1712. Some of them were printed in the year the battle took place and can be considered as some sort of military record. The two parts together form a special atlas. (Source: to: Wouter Bracke, Curator of Maps and Plans at KBR in Brussels). The digital accessibility of this historical atlas came about through a collaboration in 2009 between KBR and the then AGIV (Agency for Geographic Information Flanders), now Digital Flanders. The maps were digitised, georeferenced and made available via geopunt.be, the geoportal of GDI-Vlaanderen. The intellectual property rights of the georeferenced maps have been shared and rest with KBR and Digitaal Vlaanderen.