Blaeu, Johannes (c. 1599-1673).

second edition, 2 volumes, folio (510 x 340mm.), [92 (including 2 dedication leaves, one Dutch privilege leaf, 4-page address to the reader, 6 divisional titles and an index leaf)]; [108 (including 2 dedication leaves, one Dutch privilege leaf, 4-page address to the reader, 8 divisional titles and an index leaf)]pp., Latin text, illustration: 2 printed title slips pasted within engraved architectural borders, 226 engraved plates showing town and military plans, views and illustrations (most double-page, a few full- or half-page, many showing two or more subjects, most with printed text on rectos and versos) after A. Sanderus, J. Prempart, H. Hoet, B. Boazio, M. Boxhorn and others, woodcut initials and tail-pieces, binding: contemporary Dutch gilt-panelled vellum, lacking French privilege leaf (as often, Dutch present), titles soiled, one or two repairs, occasional marginal fraying or creasing, lacking ties, binding soiled

ownership inscription in ink on titles "Stamford 1693"

Koeman I, Bl 64 & 65 (collations varying slightly, as often)

The townbooks were a proud celebration of the newly independent Netherlands, forming one of the most lavishly illustrated works produced in Amsterdam during the seventeenth century, and of great value in providing an accurate topographical record of the towns and cities of Belgium and the Netherlands. "Of all the Blaeu atlases, the townbooks of the Netherlands are held in the highest esteem... Bound up, by sentiment, with the most dramatic and heroic period of the shaping of the Dutch State it shows the proud and industrious cities... in their full splendour" (Koeman I, p.295).