Blaeu, Johannes

Atlas Maior, sive cosmographia blaviana. Amsterdam: Johannes Blaeu, 1662-1665



11 volumes, folio (21 5/8 x 14 in.; 550 x 355 mm). 9 handcolored engraved frontispieces heightened with gold, 11 letterpress titles with handcolored vignettes most heightened with gold, 13 divisional half-titles, 594 engraved maps, plans, views, and plates, mostly double-page (some folding, full-page or within text), all with contemporary handcoloring; some light browning and spotting, a few splits at folds mostly without loss, some maps creased near folds, occasional marginal repairs. Original vellum gold-tooled in a panel design with central arabesque medallion, spines gilt with contemporary manuscripts shelfmarks at feet of spines, many volumes with green silk ties; covers dust-soiled and scraped with a few stains, tear in backstrip of vol. 8.

Unidentified Russian bookplate

Koeman I (Bl 56); Phillips, Atlases 3430

First complete edition of this monument of cartography. The Atlas Maior was a mammoth publishing achievement and hugely expensive. Sets were presented as diplomatic gifts by the Netherlands government and special furniture to contain it was produced. This copy consists of:

Volume I. Northern Europe: 61 maps and plates, including 5 plans and 9 plates illustrating Tycho Brahe's astronomical observatory and the large instruments therein; lacking Blaeu "to the reader" (4 pages), 4 maps slightly creased, 3 maps with marginal tears of which 2 affect the maps but without loss, some light browning and offsetting.

Volume II. Northern and Eastern Europe, Greece: 39 maps and plates, including 2 plans of Moscow and the Kremlin; lacking the 1-page introduction to Russia, one map split at top and bottom slightly affecting image, index lightly browned.

Volume III. Germany: 96 maps; one map with several small repaired tears, a small hole in one map, a few other minor marginal repairs, some browning.

Volume IV. Netherlands: 63 maps, 2 engraved titles; last few maps damp-stained.

Volume V. England and Wales: 58 maps and 3 views.

Volume VI. Scotland and Ireland: 55 maps; some browning.

Volume VII. France and Switzerland: 70 maps, including the map La Bresse Chalonoise not in index nor listed by Phillips; one corner of title-page and a map browned, some slight marginal worming in this volume not affecting maps or text, some offsetting in the first half of this volume with some browning throughout.

Volume VIII. Italy: 60 maps; some browning and spotting.

Volume IX. Spain, Portugal and Africa: 34 maps and 7 plates of the Escorial, with a dedication leaf to Phillip IV not mentioned in Koeman; a few marginal spots.

Volume X. Asia: 28 maps including 17 maps of China and Japan after Martino Martinio, 2 engraved titles; some light spotting and marginal staining, last few leaves with some damp-staining.

Volume XI. America: 23 maps; a little discoloration and browning in this volume with some marginal repairs and minor spotting.