Anna van Westerstee Beek
Anna Beek née Anna van Westerstee (25 November 1657, The Hague - after October 1717, The Hague),[1] was a Dutch publisher of maps.[2]
Career
Most of the maps she produced are city and battle plans, which are mapping naval and ground troop movements.[3] The War of the Spanish Succession began in 1701 and the majority of the maps she sold were of key moments, providing news of events in real time.[4] She married the publisher and art dealer Barent Beek in 1678, but after a 15-year marriage and having seven children together, her spouse deserted her. She later divorced him and the local courts supported her running the family business.[5] Since at least 1697 she often used her maiden name "Van Westerstee" again. Several reference books consider her the engraver of some of the works she published.[1]
Thirty maps produced by Beek are part of the Geography and Map Division's collection at the U.S. Library of Congress.[6]
References
- Margreet van der Hut, Westerstee, Anna van (1657-na 1717) in Digitaal Vrouwenlexicon van Nederland (in Dutch)
- Beeck, Anna, and Gaspar De Baillieu. A collection of plans of fortifications and battles, -1709: Europe. [S.l.: s.n, 1709] Map. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2008621715/. (Accessed March 22, 2018.)
- The Map: Poltava, 1709, History Today, Volume 67 Issue 10 October 2017
- The Map: Poltava, 1709, History Today, Volume 67 Issue 10 October 2017
- Van den Hoonaard, Will C. Map worlds: A history of women in cartography. Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press, 2013.
- Osborn, Carlyn. "Anna Beek and the War of the Spanish Succession". Library of Congress. Retrieved 2018-03-22.