Klencke Atlas

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Nova et accurata totius germaniae tabula. Map of Germany in the Klencke Atlas

The Klencke Atlas of 1660 is one of the largest atlases in the world. When open, it is 1.75 meters high and 1.9 meters wide, and so heavy that the British Library took six people to carry it.

It is a world atlas made up of 37 maps on 39 sheets and contains engravings by artists such as Joan Blaeu and Henricus Hondius . The maps were originally intended as wall maps and not for a book and should be presented on the wall. The maps represent the continents and various states in Europe, South America and Asia and should contain all of the geographical knowledge of the time.

The atlas was given to King Charles II of England in 1660 on the occasion of his reinstatement by a consortium of Dutch merchants, led by the sugar importer Johannes Klencke (1620–1672), son of a Dutch merchant family. Charles II., A Kartenenthusiast, kept it in the Cabinet and Closet of Rarities ( cabinet of curiosities ) in Whitehall .

George III donated the atlas to the British Library in 1828 as part of a larger collection of maps and atlases. It was rebound and restored in the 1950s. Today it is kept in the antiquarian card department of the British Library in London; since 1998 it has been on display in the entrance area of ​​the card reading room. In April 2010 it was on public display for the first time in 350 years with the pages open at an exhibition in the British Library. The British Library began digitizing in 2015 .

Until 2010, the Klencke Atlas was widely considered to be the world's largest atlas, a record it has probably held since it was produced 350 years ago. In October 2010, the Australian publisher Gordon Cheers published a new atlas entitled Earth , which is about a foot - a good 30 cm - larger and is now considered the largest atlas in the world; only 31 copies are made and for 100,000 US dollars sold per copy, one bought in 2012 and the British Library.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f The World Actually Fits in The World's Largest Book. National Public Radio , Jan. 31, 2010.
  2. ↑ a b c Largest book in the world goes on show for the first time. The Guardian , Jan. 26, 2010.
  3. ↑ a b c d And You Think Your Kids' Books Are Heavy. Art Info , January 28, 2010.
  4. ^ "Largest book in the world" to be displayed for the first time. The Daily Telegraph , Jan. 28, 2010.
  5. ^ A b c Peter Barber: The Map Book. Bloomsbury Publishing USA, 2005, p. 164 .
  6. ^ Dirk van Miert: Humanism in an Age of Science: The Amsterdam Athenaeum in the Golden Age. BRILL, 2009, pp. 68-70 .
  7. ↑ Magnificent Maps: Power, Propaganda and Art. British Library Exhibition, April 30, 2010 - September 19, 2010.
  8. ^ British Library to put very big royal atlas online. TheArtNewspaper.com, December 31, 2015.
  9. ↑ Mannshoch: Giant Atlas at the Frankfurt Book Fair. Euronews , October 6, 2010.
  10. ↑ Biggest book revealed ( Memento of March 4, 2012 in the Internet Archive ). iafrica.com, October 6, 2010 (English).
  11. ^ World's largest atlas acquired by the British Library. British Library press release, July 13, 2012.

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