We were sent a photograph
of this authentic map often framed, mostly in Protestant circles,
originally made in the 19th century. After requesting further
information we received the following explanation.
This map is attributed to Abraham Trommius, actually
- Abraham Trom (Groningen, August 23, 1633 - Groningen, May
29, 1719). After his education at the University of Groningen,
where he studied language and literature, philosophy and theology,
Abraham became a minister of religion. He was minister in
Haren (1658), but later changed to Groningen (1671). He was
also active as a theologian. He published many books; the
most well known of which is his concordance for the State-Bible.
This concordance is also known as the ‘Trommius’.
He spent 30 years working on this concordance and received
his title of doctor honoris causa of the University of Groningen
as a result this work.
On top of the map is written "Men vind in den Bijbel"
– translated: “One finds in the Bible”.
It is nice to see that he noted that 'The name Jehovah or
Lord is included 6855 times in the Bible: The middle time
is found in 2 Chron 4 Verse 16. Furthermore there are in the
Bible: 66 Books, 1189 Chapters, 31192 verses, 773.692 words,
3.566.480 characters, the word 'And' 46227 times...".
These facts and figures are split into two - the Old Testament
(on the left) and the New Testament (on the right). Also in
two columns all the Bible books are written in rhyme.
It is interesting to know that the well-known poet Hildebrand,
an alias for Nicolaas Beets (see our page ‘Poets’),
mentions this map in his well-known book “Camera Obscura”.
