Atlas Maior
The Atlas Blaeu , later called Atlas Maior (Latin for "Great Atlas"), was published by Willem Janszoon Blaeu , but was compiled from 1662 to 1665 by his son, the Amsterdam publisher Joan Blaeu . It is one of the most important atlases of the 17th century. The Atlas Maior was the most expensive and most extensive book published in the 17th century. It remained the binding world atlas for over 100 years.
Based on the title Theatrum orbis terrarum of the Atlas by Abraham Ortelius (first edition 1570), this "new atlas" was published in 1635 as a Latin edition in two volumes under the title Theatrum orbis terrarum, sive, Atlas novus . Other two-volume editions appeared in German, Dutch and French. In 1645 the work appeared in four volumes.
description
With each issue, more and more new maps and ever more extensive descriptions were added to the atlas. As usual in cartography of the 16th and 17th centuries, maps from private atlases by other authors were also integrated into multi-volume atlases, they were taken from older printed works (in some cases the old original copper plates were used for this purpose) or copied from existing maps, and in the various regions asked about maps. In the 1654 edition, for example, a series of maps of Scotland by Scottish cartographer Timothy Pont was included , and in 1655 Joan Blaeu added the Novus Atlas Sinensis by the Jesuit Martino Martini as a separate volume without further processing in his Atlas Maior.
In 1662 the atlas already comprised eleven volumes and a lake atlas and was also known as the Atlas Maior from this point on . It comprised 594 maps, which showed the then known world of the early modern times , with all countries, maps and astronomical observations known at that time.
Depending on the language in which the atlas was published, it comprised nine to eleven volumes. It was printed in black and white and the individual sheets were sold unbound. This atlas, which was extremely expensive at the time, was completed according to the customer's wishes, the sheets were hand-colored and bound according to customer requirements with varying degrees of effort, partly in parchment binding and with gold decoration. A matching bookcase was also supplied on request. This very expensive cartographic masterpiece of the Baroque era could only be afforded by very wealthy people. They were also ordered as state gifts.
Although Joan Blaeu, one of the leading Dutch cartographers and publishers in his day, was the official cartographer of the Dutch East India Company , like his father Willem Blaeu , he was not allowed to use their secret maps and knowledge for his atlas. So he was forced to compile the atlas from all available maps and reports at the time. He subjected them to a thorough source criticism . In addition to the actual map series, the atlas also comprises a total of 3000 pages with Latin text to describe the individual countries in terms of geography . Because of the repeated use of the letters , the pages were set anew for each new edition.
Each card was drawn with an ornate cartouche and detailed allegorical figures. Most of the maps are in the north , but not all, which was not unusual for the time. It is also not stated whether the respective card is now aligned or not. The depiction of the interior of the continents and the entire coastline of the two poles of the earth sprang from the imagination and mix myth and reality, as this information was not available in Europe at the time.
Today the Atlas Maior is a very sought-after and valuable antiquarian rarity. Every single one of the 129 surviving copies of its Latin edition is very likely known today, as it was already being produced in extremely small numbers at the time of its production. These copies were mainly given to crowned heads as valuable state gifts (around 20,000 euros at today's price) and are now mostly in the possession of state libraries. The Austrian National Library , for example, has eight complete editions alone. In Russia there is only one copy in French: “Le Grand Atlas, ou Cosmographie Blaviane, en laquelle est exactement descritte la terre, la mer, et le ciel” (from 1667).
Reprints
In 2004 Taschen-Verlag published a reprint of the Atlas Maior. More detailed individual volumes followed in 2006.
In 2008, the Russian publisher Alfaret in St. Petersburg and the Russian National Library published a facsimile edition of all 12 volumes of the Atlas Maior in their original format (title: "Большой атласа, или Космографии Блауа"). The only original copy of the Atlas Maior from 1667 that remained in Russia was used as a template. The edition was only 25 numbered volumes, so that the atlas is more easily accessible for research purposes and is not only available in the library's security department.
In the Netherlands, eight facsimile volumes of the 46-volume Atlas Blaeu-Van der Hem , an expanded version of the Atlas Maior, were published by the publisher “Hes & De Graaf Publishers BV” . The original, which served as a template, was brought to Vienna by Prince Eugene of Savoy in 1730 , where it is still located today. Laurens van der Hem (1621–1678) compiled this collective atlas with 2,400 tables from 1662 to 1678.
Volumes
The 1663 edition included:
- Volume 1: 60 maps and additional descriptions of Europe, Scandinavia and the Arctic, as well as plans with astronomical observations, a world map, 8 diagrams and a picture of a walrus .
- Volume 2: 40 maps of Northern and Eastern Europe (including a map of Moscow and a map of the Moscow Kremlin )
- Volume 3: 96 (97?) Maps of Germany (Germania)
- Volume 4: 63 maps of the Spanish and Northern Netherlands (Belgica Regia (= literal Netherlands of the King of Spain) et Belgica Foederata = Republic of the Seven United Provinces )
- Volume 5: 58 maps of England and Wales (Anglia). Descriptive text contains three images of sights (including Stonehenge ), as well as over 100 copperplate engravings, mainly showing ancient coins.
- Volume 6: 55 maps of Ireland and Scotland (Hibernia et Scotia)
- Volume 7: 37 maps of France (Gallia)
- Volume 8: 36 maps of France and Switzerland (7 maps; Helvetia) (according to other information: a total of 64 maps of France)
- Volume 9: 60 maps of Italy (Italia)
- Volume 10: 41 maps, plans and views of Spain, Portugal and Africa
- Volume 11: 28 maps of Asia and Japan
- Volume 12: 23 Maps of America (America)
According to other information (probably in other editions) there were also cards from
- Spain and Portugal (28 maps; Hispania et Portugallia)
- Africa (13 cards; Africa)
- Austria (20 maps) (Austria)
Maps of Australia are not included as it was not yet mapped at the time.
Single tickets to the German-speaking area
The maps from Europe include many from German-speaking countries (the maps linked here are from the four-volume atlas of 1645):
| title | Regions | map |
|---|---|---|
| Nova totius Germaniæ descriptio | Germania |
|
| Austria Archiducatus | Archduchy of Austria |
|
| Stiria, Steyrmarck | Styria |
|
| Bohemia | Bohemia |
|
| Moravia Marchionatus | Moravia |
|
| Silesia Ducatus | Duchy of Silesia |
|
| Silesia Inferior | Lower Silesia |
|
| Ducatus Silesiæ Glogani | Duchy of Glogau |
|
| Glatz Comitatus | County of Glatz |
|
| Saxonia Superior, cum Lusatia et Meißen | Upper Saxony with Lausitz and Meißen |
|
| Lusatia Superior | Upper Lusatia |
|
| Brandeburgum Marchionatus, cum Ducatibus Pomeraniæ et Mekelenburgi | Mark Brandenburg with the duchies of Pomerania and Mecklenburg |
|
| Pomeraniæ Ducatus tabula | Duchy of Pomerania |
|
| Rugia Insula ac Ducatus | Island and Principality of Rügen |
|
| Meklenburg Ducatus | Duchy of Mecklenburg |
|
| Ducatus Holsatiæ nova tabula | Duchy of Holstein |
|
| Celeberrimi Fluvii Albis nova delineatio | Elbe |
|
| Ducatus Luneburgensis adiacentiumque regionum delineatio | Principality of Lüneburg |
|
| Archiepiscopatus Maghdeburgensis, et Anhaltinus Ducatus cum terris adjacentibus | Archbishopric Magdeburg and Duchy of Anhalt with adjacent areas |
|
| Ducatus Brunsuicensis fereque Lunæburgensis cum adjacentibus episcopatibus comit domin etc. | Duchy of Brunswick |
|
| Episcopatus Hildesiensis descriptio novissima | Principality of Hildesheim |
|
| Circulus Westphalicus, sive Germaniæ Inferioris | Westphalian district |
|
| Oldenburg Comitatus | County of Oldenburg |
|
| Type frisiæ orientalis | Ostfriesland |
|
| Osnaburgensis episcopatus | Principality of Osnabrück |
|
| Monasteriensis Episcopatus | Principality of Münster |
|
| Comitatus Bentheim, et Steinfurt | Grafschaft Bentheim and Steinfurt |
|
| Westphalia Ducatus | Duchy of Westphalia |
|
| Paderbornensis Episcopatus descriptio nova | Principality of Paderborn |
|
| Comitatus Marchia et Ravensberg | Counties of Mark and Ravensberg |
|
| Clivia Ducatus et Ravenstein Dominium | Duchy of Cleves and Ravenstein |
|
| Iuliacensis et Montensis Ducatus | Duchy of Jülich and Duchy of Berg |
|
| Archiepiscopatus Trevirensis | Electorate and Archbishopric Trier |
|
| Coloniensis Archiepiscopatus | Archbishopric and Electorate of Cologne |
|
| Waldeck Comitatus | County Waldeck |
|
| Abbatæ Heresfeldensis territory | Hersfeld Abbey |
|
| Mansfeldia Comitatus | Mansfeld County |
|
| Thuringia Landgraviatus | Landgraviate of Thuringia |
|
| Franconia vulgo Franckenlandt | Francs |
|
| Nassovia Comitatus | Counties of Nassau |
|
| Palatinatus ad Rhenum | Palatine County near the Rhine |
|
| Erpach Comitatus | County of Erbach |
|
| Norimbergense territory | Nuremberg |
|
| Palatinatus Bavariæ | Bavarian Palatinate |
|
| Bavaria Ducatus | Duchy of Bavaria |
|
| Saltzburg Archiepiscopatus et Carinthia Ducatus | Prince Archbishopric of Salzburg and Duchy of Carinthia |
|
| Sueviæ nova tabula | Swabia |
|
| Alemannia sive Suevia Superior | Upper Swabia |
|
| Wirtenberg Ducatus | Duchy of Württemberg |
|
| Alsatia Landgraviatus, cum Suntgoia et Brisgoia | Landgraviate of Alsace with Sundgau and Breisgau |
|
| Helvetia, cum finitimis regionibus confœderatis | Switzerland |
|
| Zurichgow et Basiliensis Provincia | Zürichgau and the Principality of Basel |
|
| Argow cum parte merid. Zurichgow | Aargau with parts of the Zürichgau |
|
| The Wiflispurgergow | Wiflisburgergau |
|
| Alpinæ seu fœderatæ Rhaetiae subditarumque ei terrarum nova descriptio | Raetia |
|
| Rhenus fluviorum Europæ celeberrimus, cum Mosa, Mosella, et reliquis, in illum se exonerantibus, fluminibus | Rhine with Maas , Moselle and tributaries |
|
| Germaniae veteris, typus | Map of Germany in Roman times with adjacent areas |
|
Canon of the Netherlands
The Atlas Major has been included in the Van Oostrom Commission's canon of the Netherlands . This historical canon contains 50 subjects that must be covered in history class in every Dutch school.
South China with the Yangtze (Atlas Maior)
Lapland, North Cape, Hammerfest (Atlas Maior)
Venice (Atlas Maior)
United Kingdom (Atlas Maior)
The Moluccas (Atlas Maior)
literature
- Peter van der Krogt: Atlas Maior. Taschen Verlag, 2005, ISBN 3-8228-3125-5 . (the completely facsimile Atlas Maior in Latin).
- Я. Блау: Большой атлас, или Космография Блау. = Le Grand Atlas, ou Cosmographie Blaviane, en laquelle est exactement descritte la terre, la mer, et le ciel: in 12 volumes; Facsimile edition 1667, Alfavit Publishing House, Saint Petersburg 2008.
- Walter A. Goffart: Historical Atlases: The First Three Hundred Years, 1570-1870. University of Chicago Press, 2003, ISBN 0-226-30071-4 .
- Ute Schneider: The power of cards. A history of cartography from the Middle Ages to the present day. Primus Verlag, 2004, ISBN 3-89678-243-6 .
