Detail View: David Rumsey Historical Map Collection: Novissima Africæ Descriptio.

Blaeu, Joan, 1596-1673

Blommaert, Samuel, 1583-1651

1659

Novissima Africæ Descriptio.

Joannes Blaeu

Amsterdam

Atlas Map

Wall Map

120

156

Scale not determined.

1 map : copperplate engraving on 6 sheets, hand colour. Method of distance calculation presented in a cartouche in the top right. Small fictive sheet in the bottom left, held above the waves by sea putti, carrying an acknowledgement to Samuel Blommaert for information about the Cabo Blanco and Cabo Negro (Angola). Title in the bottom right, on a cartouche surmounted with a personification of Africa, and flanked by two river gods and various figures in regional dress (North African at the left, Sub-Saharan at the right). Map framed by three descriptions of the continent, in Latin (left), Dutch (bottom) and French (right), each ending with the imprint of Jodocus Hondius. Samuel Blommaert served three terms as director of the Dutch West India Company, and he also oversaw voyages to North America and Africa. His papers proved to be a fruitful source of information about the west coast of Africa, and even after his death in 1651 he continued to be credited by cartographers, particularly for supplying details about the two capes mentioned by Blaeu in his acknowledgement (for a similar posthumous note see Maps K.Top.117.30.). Among the numerous animals depicted in the African interior are two rhinoceros based on Albrecht Dürer's famously misleading woodcut, which for centuries remained the stock image of the animal.

Africa

Novissima Africæ Descriptio.

10151.009

BL System Number 018153950 Maps K.A.R.(6).

9

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

10151009.jp2

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Blaeu, Joan, 1596-1673; Blommaert, Samuel, 1583-1651