Atlas Maior

The Atlas Maior is the most lavish and largest geographic work ever produced by Joannes Blaue during the Golden Age of Dutch Cartography. Joannes’s father, Willem Janszoon Blaeu was the head of the Blaeu cartographic dynasty and the official cartographer of the Dutch East India Company. His firm competed with other map and globemakers to dominate the atlas market. Since the family had close ties with maritime navigators and seafarers, the firm was the first to compile a list and description of all the countries, towns, oceans and stars known. The rivalry pushed Blaeu even further to take his firm to new heights. It led Joannes to create the most comprehensive and expensive atlas of the 17th century. This first edition of the Atlas Maior is written in Latin and consists of 11 volumes with approximately 600 maps. The maps are also vibrantly coloured by hand with coats of arms and mythological figures.