Detail View: David Rumsey Historical Map Collection: [Western Hemisphere]

Blaeu, Joan, 1596-1673, cartographer, publisher.

1648

[Western Hemisphere]

Joan Blaeu

Amsterdam

Atlas Map

Wall Map

152

152

Scale not determined.

1 map : copperplate engraving on 12 sheets, hand colour. Description in a cartouche in the bottom left of the globe. This circular map filled the left half of Blaeu's enormous terrestrial wall map, which was published under the title 'Nova Totius Terrarum Orbis Tabula'. Although undated, the dedication to Gaspar de Bracamonte Guzmán, a Spanish representative at the Treaty of Westphalia, probably places the publication sometime around the conclusion of that treaty in 1648. As new geographical information continued to arrive in the Netherlands the map was revised multiple times, resulting in at least four different states. This is an impression of the first, pulled before Blaeu made major revisions to the other half of the plate. As published, Blaeu's two maps were framed in a border filled with smaller terrestrial and astrological maps. The two hemispheres were often extracted and presented as separate sheets, however, and in this case as individual pages of an atlas. In doing so, however, the compilers of the Klencke Atlas reversed the order in which the hemispheres are presented on Blaeu's sheet, presumably to give precedence to Europe.

Western Hemisphere

[Western Hemisphere]

10151.005

BL System Number 018149213 Maps K.A.R.(2).

5

Blaeu, Joan, 1596-1673

Hondius, Jodocus, 1563-1612

Visscher, Claes Jansz

Blaeu, Willem Janszoon, 1571-1638

Tassin, Christophe Nicolas

1660

(Klencke Atlas). Orbis Terræ Compendium, Carolo Secundo dedicatum a I. Kliencke (a Collection of Maps by Blaeu, Hondius, Visscher, &c.)

British Library Maps K.A.R. R. Shirley, The Mapping of the World: Early Printed World Maps 1472-1700, London, 1993, 2nd ed, pp. 392-6, no. 371. In the Catalogue of Maps, Prints, Drawings, etc., forming the geographical and topographical collection attached to the Library of his late Majesty King George the third, etc., London, 1829. .British Museum, Catalogue of Maps, Prints, Drawings, etc., forming the geographical and topographical collection attached to the Library of his late Majesty King George the third, etc., London, 1829

The Klencke Atlas resides at the British Library and we are grateful to them for providing scanned images of the atlas and complete catalog metadata as part of a joint project to scan and catalog the maps and atlases from the low countries of Europe that are part of the King George III Topographical Collections. From the British Library description: "The Klencke Atlas is one of the world's biggest: it measures 176 x 231 cm when open. It takes its name from Joannes Klencke, who presented it to Charles II on his restoration to the British thrones in 1660. Its size and its 40 or so large wall maps from the Golden Age of Dutch mapmaking were supposed to suggest that it contained all the knowledge in the world. At another level, it was a bribe intended to spur the King into granting Klencke and his associates trading privileges and titles. Charles, who was a map enthusiast, appreciated the gift. He placed the atlas with his most precious possessions in his cabinet of curiosities, and Klencke was knighted. Later generations have benefited too. The binding has protected the wall maps which have survived for us to enjoy - unlike the vast majority of other wall maps which, exposed to light, heat and dirt when hung on walls, have crumbled away. Titled 'Orbis Terræ Compendium, Carolo Secundo dedicatum a I. Kliencke. i.e. a Collection of Maps by Blaeu, Hondius, Visscher, &c. One Volume 5 feet 10 inches by 3 feet 2 inches." For more on the Klencke Atlas, see the British Library website, https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/klencke-atlas

10151.000

World Atlas

42

176

116

10151005.jp2

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Blaeu, Joan, 1596-1673, cartographer, publisher.