Atlas Maior of 1665

Atlas maior of 1665 : the greatest and finest atlas ever published : der grösste und prachtvollste Atlas, der jemals veröffentlicht wurde
Joan Blaeu, P. C. J. van der Krogt, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek (Wien).
Taschen, 2005

Traveller’s luxury map of the 17th century

Thanks to the expeditions of discovery the amount of geographical information increased abundantly. The early modern period brought the trade trips to distant countries, for which new and reliable maps were needed, thus creating even heated competition in the field of map-producing. A good map was also accepted to cost more. As a result of the competition, there were many ways invested in the visual appearance and quality of the maps. Map books  had became luxury items.

It is widely acknowledged that words of praise are insufficient to describe Joan Blaeu’s 17th-century map book Atlas Maior. This marvelously beautiful and informative book consisting of eleven volumes was a true display of skill by many professions. It contains numerous text pages, as well as 594 coloured and gold-plated maps, depicting all of early known world Arctica, Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas.

The original Latin edition, completed in 1665 in Amsterdam, was the largest and most expensive book published during the 17th century. Luckily for us, a whole multi-part splendour edition has survived, for example, in the collection of rare books by the University of Amsterdam and the National Library of Austria.

A magnificent reprint of this set of works appeared in 2005, published by Tachen and curated by experts, so the book is now within our grasp and can be borrowed from the Turku University Library. The book is enormous – its weight is more than four kilograms, thickness 7 cm, height 45 cm, width 35 cm.