The Atlas Maior is the final version of Joan Blaeu's atlas, published in Amsterdam between 1662 and 1672, in Latin, French, Dutch, German and Spanish, containing 594 maps and around 3,000 pages of text. It was the largest and most expensive book published in the seventeenth century. Earlier, much smaller versions, titled Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, sive, Atlas Novus, were published from 1634 onwards. Like Abraham Ortelius's Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, the Atlas Maior is widely considered a masterpiece of the Golden Age of Dutch/Netherlandish cartography.
History
Somewhere around 1604 Willem Blaeu settled down in Amsterdam and opened a shop on the Damrak, where he produced and sold scientific instruments, globes and maps. He was also a publisher, editor and engraver. In 1629, Willem Blaeu bought the copperplates of several dozens of maps from Jodocus Hondius II's widow. Afterwards, he published an Atlantis Appendix to Mercator's atlas in 1630, containing 60 maps, but no text. The next year a new edition was published, with 98 maps and descriptive text in Latin. Willem and his son Joan Blaeu made a public announcement in an Amsterdam newspaper that they would publish their own full atlas in 1634. Their first atlas was completed in 1635 and appeared in four different versions: Novus Atlas, Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, sive, Atlas Novus, Toonneel des Aerdrycks and finally Theatre du Monde ou Nouvel Atlas. After his father's death in 1638, Joan continued to rework and expand the atlas. A three volume edition was published from 1640 onwards. Joan later published the Atlas of England with maps of John Speed, the Atlas of Scotland with maps of Timothy Pont and Robert Gordon, and Martino Martini's Novus Atlas Sinensis, which were added as respectively the fourth, fifth and sixth volumes of Blaeu's Atlas Novus. The final version of the atlas was published as the Atlas Maior and contained 594 maps in eleven, twelve, nine or ten volumes. This final version of the Atlas Maior was the largest and most expansive book published in the seventeenth century. The first volumes were published in 1662, the last volume was finished in 1665, although Joan continued to rework several volumes. He also started creating a 12 volume Spanish edition, however, only 10 volumes were finished. However, this 9 to 12 volume atlas was only intended to be the first part of a much larger work, which is illustrated by the full title of the atlas: Atlas Maior, sive Cosmographia Blaviana, qua solum, salum, coelum, accuratissime describuntur. The second part and third part were never produced. In 1672, fire broke out in the workshop. Joan Blaeu died the next year. No new editions of his atlases were published and the family business went bankrupt within a few years.
John Goss & Peter Clark, Blaeu – Der große Atlas: die Welt im 17. Jahrhundert. Wien 1990,
J. Keuning, Willem Jansz. Blaeu. A biography and history of his work as a cartographer and publisher. Rev. and ed. by M. Donkersloot-De Vrij. Amsterdam 1973
C. Koeman, Joan Blaeu and his 'Grand atlas. Amsterdam 1970.
Ute Schneider, Die Macht der Karten. Eine Geschichte der Kartographie vom Mittelalter bis heute. Primus Verlag, 2004,.
R. Shirley, The mapping of the world. Early printed world maps, 1472-1700. London 1983
F. Wawrik, Berühmte Atlanten. Kartographische Kunst aus fünf Jahrhunderten. Dortmund 1982
Bibliographical descriptions of the atlases:
Modern reproductions:'
Joan Blaeu, Le grand atlas ou Cosmographie blaviane, en laquelle est exactement descritte la terre, la mer et le ciel, 12 volumes. The third centenary ed. Amsterdam 1967-1968
