Maps
Atlases
Books
Prints
Globes and Planetaria
Blaeu’s map of Spitsbergen
By BLAEU, Johannes, 1665
Spitsberga.
- Author: BLAEU, Johannes
- Publication place: Amsterdam
- Publication date: 1665.
- Physical description: Engraved map in contemporary hand-colour, heightened in gold.
- Dimensions: 380 by 490mm. (15 by 19.25 inches).
- Inventory reference: 9689
Notes
Based on the Muscovy Company’s map of 1625, Blaeu’s map of Spitsbergen introduces a number of new place names along the north coast and marks and names the Hinlopen straight.
The map appeared in the ‘Atlas Major’, which, in its various editions, was the largest atlas ever published. It was justly famed for its production values, its high typographic standard, and the quality of its engraving, ornamentation, binding and colouring. The atlas frequently served as the official gift of the Dutch Republic to princes and other authorities. It is one of the most lavish and highly prized of all seventeenth-century illustrated books.
The map appeared in the ‘Atlas Major’, which, in its various editions, was the largest atlas ever published. It was justly famed for its production values, its high typographic standard, and the quality of its engraving, ornamentation, binding and colouring. The atlas frequently served as the official gift of the Dutch Republic to princes and other authorities. It is one of the most lavish and highly prized of all seventeenth-century illustrated books.
Bibliography
- Van der Krogt
- Koeman, C and van der Krogt, Pieter (2000–2010). Koeman’s Atlantes Neerlandici. MS’t Goy-Houten: HES & De Graaf Publishers. 9 vols.
- Shirley, British Library.
- Shirley, Rodney. (2004). Maps in the Atlases of the British Library: A descriptive catalogue cAD850 to 1800. London: British Library. 2 vols.
- Brotton, 265–290
- S. Kramer, ‘Ex bibliotheca Reisachiorum’, Scriptorium 34 (1980), pp.91–95
Related items
A striking map of modern France from the 1482 Ulm Ptolemy
PTOLEMAEUS, Claudius [translated by ANGELUS, Jacobus, edited by GERMANUS, Nicolaus], 1482.
£12,000
The Comte Dorsenne’s maps used in his Napoleonic campaigns
BADER-DALBE, Louis Albert Guislan; LOPEZ, Thomas; OHSEN, Friedrich Willhelm; PONGRATZ, Jean; SOTZMAN, D[aniel] F[rederick], 1780.
£20,000
Rotterdam during the Dutch Golden Age
VOU, Johannes de [and] Romeijn de Hooghe, 1694.
£55,000
A fine portolan chart by Cavallini
CAVALLINI, Gio[vanni] Batt[ista], 1642.
£40,000
/