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Atlases from a Private Swiss Collection
BLAEU, Joan (1596-1673) & Willem BLAEU (1571-1638)
Le Grand Atlas, ou Cosmographie Blaviane, en laquelle est exactement descritte la Terre, la Mer et le Ciel. Amsterdam: Joan Blaeu 1667.
Details
BLAEU, Joan (1596-1673) & Willem BLAEU (1571-1638)
Le Grand Atlas, ou Cosmographie Blaviane, en laquelle est exactement descritte la Terre, la Mer et le Ciel. Amsterdam: Joan Blaeu 1667.
Finely-coloured copy of the most famous atlas in the history of printed maps. Since its publication, Blaeu’s Grand Atlas – the French-language edition of the Latin Atlas Major – has remained, with every justification, the most magnificent work of its kind ever produced. The present set is the second French edition of 1667 (identical to the first edition of 1663 excepting the date on the title-page), coloured throughout by a contemporary hand with some additional titles heightened in gold. It contains some 200 maps more than the largest editions of Blaeu's next most expansive atlas, the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum.
The Atlas Major is the epitome of decades of achievement by the Blaeu family. Published in five languages (Latin, Dutch, French, German and Spanish) from 1662, this comprehensive atlas was, as Koeman observes, a 'costly atlas ... exclusively designed for those members of the patriciate who could command both the material and intellectual resources that were needed to buy and appreciate it'.
This French edition has, naturally, a much-expanded text dedicated to France, with the result that volume 7 is split into 2 volumes. The text for Asia and America was also considerably enlarged.
The origins of this atlas lie a generation earlier, when, in 1634, Willem Blaeu published a German edition of a 2-volume atlas with a Latin title, Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, sive Atlas Novus. This was followed by Latin, Dutch and French editions in 1635. The title deliberately echoed the previous efforts of Abraham Ortelius, while simultaneously signalling with the words Atlas Novus that this was a new publication at the fore-front of cartographic knowledge.
Willem planned another 2 additional volumes, but these were only completed after his death, in 1640 and 1645. Willem's son, Joan, progressively expanded the Atlas Novus to six volumes by 1655, and this formed the first half of the Atlas Major. By 1662, Joan published the 11-volume Latin Atlas Maior by expanding it with 200 more maps derived from copper plates that he had already published as well as acquiring more from other publishers. In the following years, editions in French (12 volumes, as here), Dutch (9 volumes), Spanish (10 volumes) and German (10 volumes) were published. This French edition contains five maps more than the Latin edition and one less than the Dutch, and was the only edition to go into a second edition.
Van der Krogt II 2:612 (pp.357-382); Koeman, Joan Blaeu and his Grand Atlas (Amsterdam 1970); Phillips 479.
Volume I [Arctic, Europe and Scandinavia]. General letterpress title, 61 engraved maps and plates, including the world map and 14 plates depicting Uranienborg, the observatory of Tycho Brahe, and his astronomical instruments (lacking frontispiece ‘Geographia Blaviana’ [Van der Krogt 2:31], light marginal staining to one text leaf at beginning, some offsetting to map of Jutland, some light uneven browning to pl. 32 showing Tycho Brahe, light browning to pl. 59 ‘Sylva Danica Vulgo’, final 2 maps 60 and 61 cut so that they fold out without loss). Van der Krogt 2:612.1.
Volume II [Northern and Eastern Europe]. Title, 39 engraved maps and plates, including the plans of Moscow and the Kremlin (short marginal tear to pl. 8 ‘Finlandiae,’ a few other very short marginal splits to creasefolds, books 4-7 comprising Russia, Poland, south-eastern Europe and Greece more heavily browned). Van der Krogt 2:612.2.
Volume III [Germany]. Title, 96 engraved maps, including 3 large folding plates of the Rhine, the Danube, and Alsace (small marginal stain from maps 54-66 just into image of a few maps, some variable light browning). Van der Krogt 2:612.3.
Volume IV [Belgium and the Netherlands]. Title, 2 engraved title-pages with coat-of-arms, hand-coloured and heightened with gold, 63 engraved maps (both engraved titles lacking letterpress overslips and browned, marginal chip to pl. 4 ‘Secundus pars Brabantiae,’ split to centerfold of pl.30 ‘Commitatuum Hannoniae’ at foot just into image, some light-finger-soiling to margins of pl.42 ‘Hollandia Comitatus,’ least two text leaves with map ‘Tabula Bergarum ad Zoman’ with marginal staining, some variable browning). Van der Krogt 2:612.4.
Volume V [England]. Title, engraved title hand-coloured and heightened with gold, 58 engraved maps, 3 engraved views in text of Stonehenge and Avebury (engraved title without overslip, some variable light browning with pl. 18 ‘Hertfordia Comitaus’ more heavily affected, tiny marginal worming from gathering 4G to end). Van der Krogt 2:612.5 [i.e. 2:312Yc].
Volume VI [Scotland and Ireland]. Title, engraved title hand-coloured and heightened with gold, 55 engraved maps (engraved title without overslip, some variable light browning, some variable light browning, tiny marginal worming from beginning through to gathering P). Van der Krogt 2:612.6 [i.e. 2:412Yc].
Volume VII [France]. Title, engraved title hand-coloured and heightened with gold, 37 maps, text corrected with letterpress overslips on 4D1r and 4F1r (engraved title without letterpress overslip, small marginal holes to text leaves 2b2-2c1, marginal tear to text leaf 2H2, maps lightly browned and offsetting onto adjacent text leaves). Van der Krogt 2:612.7.
Volume VIII [France and Switzerland]. Title, 36 engraved maps (tiny amount of marginal worming from beginning through to gathering 8S, some lightly variable browning). Van der Krogt 2:612.8.
Volume IX [Italy]. Title, engraved title hand-coloured and heightened with gold, 60 engraved maps (engraved title without letterpress overslip, leaf 3O2 incorrectly signed 3F2 [Van der Krogt indicates that at least one copy has a printed overslip to correct this error], some very minor marginal worming from gathering 3Y to end, very short marginal tear to map58 ‘Ischia Isola olim Aenaria’). Van der Krogt 2:612.9.
Volume X [Spain and Africa]. 2 titles, 41 maps and plates, including 7 plates of views and plans of the Escorial (large mostly marginal stain at foot, diminishing in size towards end, tiny marginal worming extending through the first 4 leaves only, marginal tears to maps 36 ‘Aethiopia Inferior, vel Exterior’ and 39 ‘Insulae Canariae’). Van der Krogt 2:612.10.
Volume XI [Asia]. Title, 2 engraved titles, 28 engraved maps (first engraved title lacking letterpress overslip, a number of text leaves more heavily browned). Van der Krogt 2:612.11 [for 2nd book see 2:512B].
Volume XII [America]. Title, 23 maps (variable spotting and browning with 5 maps [12-17] more heavily affected). Van der Krogt 2:612.12.
12 volumes, folio (520 x 335 mm). 12 letterpress titles with woodcut printer's devices, volume I with general letterpress title, 8 engraved titles, 597 engraved maps, plans and views, most full-sheet, a few folding, the maps embellished with cartouches, allegorical figures, coats-of-arms, ships, etc., numerous woodcut and engraved diagrams and illustrations in text, woodcut initials and ornaments, maps, engraved titles and text illustrations fully coloured by a contemporary hand, a few heightened with gold (lacking the engraved frontispiece to vol. I, some variable browning and offsetting throughout, some repaired tears). Contemporary speckled calf, covers with gilt border of a foliate roll of alternating fleur-de-lys and tulips with a double fillet and dotted roll tools and a single gilt panel of a roll composed of volutes with large floral corner pieces, gilt spines with raised bands in 8 compartments, dark red morocco gilt lettering pieces in second, third compartment with gilt cornerpieces enclosing numbering, the other compartments tooled with gilt centre and scroll corner tools, speckled edges, green silk ties (some restoration, primarily to joints, corners, and spine ends, lightly furbished).
Provenance: unidentified 18th-century engraved armorial bookplate in vol. I by Norbert Heylbrouck, Bruges engraver (1726-1762).
Le Grand Atlas, ou Cosmographie Blaviane, en laquelle est exactement descritte la Terre, la Mer et le Ciel. Amsterdam: Joan Blaeu 1667.
Finely-coloured copy of the most famous atlas in the history of printed maps. Since its publication, Blaeu’s Grand Atlas – the French-language edition of the Latin Atlas Major – has remained, with every justification, the most magnificent work of its kind ever produced. The present set is the second French edition of 1667 (identical to the first edition of 1663 excepting the date on the title-page), coloured throughout by a contemporary hand with some additional titles heightened in gold. It contains some 200 maps more than the largest editions of Blaeu's next most expansive atlas, the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum.
The Atlas Major is the epitome of decades of achievement by the Blaeu family. Published in five languages (Latin, Dutch, French, German and Spanish) from 1662, this comprehensive atlas was, as Koeman observes, a 'costly atlas ... exclusively designed for those members of the patriciate who could command both the material and intellectual resources that were needed to buy and appreciate it'.
This French edition has, naturally, a much-expanded text dedicated to France, with the result that volume 7 is split into 2 volumes. The text for Asia and America was also considerably enlarged.
The origins of this atlas lie a generation earlier, when, in 1634, Willem Blaeu published a German edition of a 2-volume atlas with a Latin title, Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, sive Atlas Novus. This was followed by Latin, Dutch and French editions in 1635. The title deliberately echoed the previous efforts of Abraham Ortelius, while simultaneously signalling with the words Atlas Novus that this was a new publication at the fore-front of cartographic knowledge.
Willem planned another 2 additional volumes, but these were only completed after his death, in 1640 and 1645. Willem's son, Joan, progressively expanded the Atlas Novus to six volumes by 1655, and this formed the first half of the Atlas Major. By 1662, Joan published the 11-volume Latin Atlas Maior by expanding it with 200 more maps derived from copper plates that he had already published as well as acquiring more from other publishers. In the following years, editions in French (12 volumes, as here), Dutch (9 volumes), Spanish (10 volumes) and German (10 volumes) were published. This French edition contains five maps more than the Latin edition and one less than the Dutch, and was the only edition to go into a second edition.
Van der Krogt II 2:612 (pp.357-382); Koeman, Joan Blaeu and his Grand Atlas (Amsterdam 1970); Phillips 479.
Volume I [Arctic, Europe and Scandinavia]. General letterpress title, 61 engraved maps and plates, including the world map and 14 plates depicting Uranienborg, the observatory of Tycho Brahe, and his astronomical instruments (lacking frontispiece ‘Geographia Blaviana’ [Van der Krogt 2:31], light marginal staining to one text leaf at beginning, some offsetting to map of Jutland, some light uneven browning to pl. 32 showing Tycho Brahe, light browning to pl. 59 ‘Sylva Danica Vulgo’, final 2 maps 60 and 61 cut so that they fold out without loss). Van der Krogt 2:612.1.
Volume II [Northern and Eastern Europe]. Title, 39 engraved maps and plates, including the plans of Moscow and the Kremlin (short marginal tear to pl. 8 ‘Finlandiae,’ a few other very short marginal splits to creasefolds, books 4-7 comprising Russia, Poland, south-eastern Europe and Greece more heavily browned). Van der Krogt 2:612.2.
Volume III [Germany]. Title, 96 engraved maps, including 3 large folding plates of the Rhine, the Danube, and Alsace (small marginal stain from maps 54-66 just into image of a few maps, some variable light browning). Van der Krogt 2:612.3.
Volume IV [Belgium and the Netherlands]. Title, 2 engraved title-pages with coat-of-arms, hand-coloured and heightened with gold, 63 engraved maps (both engraved titles lacking letterpress overslips and browned, marginal chip to pl. 4 ‘Secundus pars Brabantiae,’ split to centerfold of pl.30 ‘Commitatuum Hannoniae’ at foot just into image, some light-finger-soiling to margins of pl.42 ‘Hollandia Comitatus,’ least two text leaves with map ‘Tabula Bergarum ad Zoman’ with marginal staining, some variable browning). Van der Krogt 2:612.4.
Volume V [England]. Title, engraved title hand-coloured and heightened with gold, 58 engraved maps, 3 engraved views in text of Stonehenge and Avebury (engraved title without overslip, some variable light browning with pl. 18 ‘Hertfordia Comitaus’ more heavily affected, tiny marginal worming from gathering 4G to end). Van der Krogt 2:612.5 [i.e. 2:312Yc].
Volume VI [Scotland and Ireland]. Title, engraved title hand-coloured and heightened with gold, 55 engraved maps (engraved title without overslip, some variable light browning, some variable light browning, tiny marginal worming from beginning through to gathering P). Van der Krogt 2:612.6 [i.e. 2:412Yc].
Volume VII [France]. Title, engraved title hand-coloured and heightened with gold, 37 maps, text corrected with letterpress overslips on 4D1r and 4F1r (engraved title without letterpress overslip, small marginal holes to text leaves 2b2-2c1, marginal tear to text leaf 2H2, maps lightly browned and offsetting onto adjacent text leaves). Van der Krogt 2:612.7.
Volume VIII [France and Switzerland]. Title, 36 engraved maps (tiny amount of marginal worming from beginning through to gathering 8S, some lightly variable browning). Van der Krogt 2:612.8.
Volume IX [Italy]. Title, engraved title hand-coloured and heightened with gold, 60 engraved maps (engraved title without letterpress overslip, leaf 3O2 incorrectly signed 3F2 [Van der Krogt indicates that at least one copy has a printed overslip to correct this error], some very minor marginal worming from gathering 3Y to end, very short marginal tear to map58 ‘Ischia Isola olim Aenaria’). Van der Krogt 2:612.9.
Volume X [Spain and Africa]. 2 titles, 41 maps and plates, including 7 plates of views and plans of the Escorial (large mostly marginal stain at foot, diminishing in size towards end, tiny marginal worming extending through the first 4 leaves only, marginal tears to maps 36 ‘Aethiopia Inferior, vel Exterior’ and 39 ‘Insulae Canariae’). Van der Krogt 2:612.10.
Volume XI [Asia]. Title, 2 engraved titles, 28 engraved maps (first engraved title lacking letterpress overslip, a number of text leaves more heavily browned). Van der Krogt 2:612.11 [for 2nd book see 2:512B].
Volume XII [America]. Title, 23 maps (variable spotting and browning with 5 maps [12-17] more heavily affected). Van der Krogt 2:612.12.
12 volumes, folio (520 x 335 mm). 12 letterpress titles with woodcut printer's devices, volume I with general letterpress title, 8 engraved titles, 597 engraved maps, plans and views, most full-sheet, a few folding, the maps embellished with cartouches, allegorical figures, coats-of-arms, ships, etc., numerous woodcut and engraved diagrams and illustrations in text, woodcut initials and ornaments, maps, engraved titles and text illustrations fully coloured by a contemporary hand, a few heightened with gold (lacking the engraved frontispiece to vol. I, some variable browning and offsetting throughout, some repaired tears). Contemporary speckled calf, covers with gilt border of a foliate roll of alternating fleur-de-lys and tulips with a double fillet and dotted roll tools and a single gilt panel of a roll composed of volutes with large floral corner pieces, gilt spines with raised bands in 8 compartments, dark red morocco gilt lettering pieces in second, third compartment with gilt cornerpieces enclosing numbering, the other compartments tooled with gilt centre and scroll corner tools, speckled edges, green silk ties (some restoration, primarily to joints, corners, and spine ends, lightly furbished).
Provenance: unidentified 18th-century engraved armorial bookplate in vol. I by Norbert Heylbrouck, Bruges engraver (1726-1762).
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