Sevende Stuck der Aerdrycks-Beschryving, Welck Vervat Italien en Griecken.

Atlas of Italy and Greece from Atlas Maior by Joan Blaeu. Printed 1664 in Amsterdam.

Reference 12079

Description

A splendid copy of Blaeu's Atlas of Italy and Greece. All 67 maps finely coloured by a contemporary hand.

The Italy and Greece Atlas of Atlas Maior by Joan Blaeu is considered as one of the most beautiful atlases of Italy. This is the seventh volume of the Dutch edition of Atlas Maior and contains 67 old coloured maps. With general and regional maps of Italy and Greece, maps of the islands Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily, Elba, Ischia, Crete and the Tremiti Islands.

Prof. C. Koeman writes about Blaeu's Atlas Maior:

The contents of this unprecedented atlas illustrate the high standards of contemporary cartography and geographical knowledge, and its presentation bears witness to the superb craftsmanship of engraver, printer, binder and papermaker... The costly atlas was in fact exclusively designed for those members of the patriciate who could command both the material and intellectual resources that were needed to buy it and appreciate it.

All maps of this atlas can be inspected in high resolution on our Atlas-Gallery website: 1664 Blaeu Atlas Italy and Greece

The following 67 maps are included in the atlas and correspond to the listing in Koeman II 2:621.7:

Nova Italiae Delineatio
Piemonte Et Monferrato
Stato Del Piemonte
Signoria di Vercelli
Montisferrati Ducatus
Liguria, o Stato della Republica di Genova
Riviera di Genova di Levante
Riviera di Genova da Ponente
Corsica
Corsica Insula
Stato Di Milano
Parte Alpestre dello Stato di Milano, con il Lago Maggiore di Lugano, e di Como
Ducato, overo Territorio di Milano
Territorio di Pavia, Lodi, Novarra, Tortona, Alessandria et Altri Vicini dello Stato di Milano
Territorio Di Cremona
Ducato Di Mantova
Ducato di Modena, Regio et Carpi, col Dominio della Carfagnana
Ducato di Parma et di Piacenza
Territorio Di Bergamo
Dominio Veneto nell'Italia
Territorio di Brescia et di Crema
Territorio Cremasco
Territorio Di Verona
Territorio Di Vicenza
Territorio Padovano
Polesino Di Rovigo
Territorio Trevigiano
Il Bellunese con il Feltrino
Il Cadorino
Patria del Friuli olim Forum Iulii
Istria olim Iapidia
Territorio Di Trento
Stato della Chiesa con la Toscana
Romagna olim Flaminia
Territorio Di Bologna
Ducato Di Ferrara
Ducato Di Urbino
Marca d'Ancona olim Picenum
Territorio Perugino
Territorio Di Orvieto
Umbria overo Ducato di Spoleto
Campagna di Roma, olim Latium: Patrimonio di S. Pietro; et Sabina
Ducatus Braccianus, olim Sabatiae Regio
Dominio Fiorentino
Territorio di Siena et Ducato di Castro
Elba Isola olim Ilva
Stato della Republica di Lucca
Regno Di Napoli
Abruzzo Citra et Ultra
Terra di Lavoro, olim Campania Felix
Contado di Molise et Principato Ultra
Capitanata olim Mesapiae et Iapygiae Pars
Insulae Tremitanae olim Diomedae Dictae
Principato Citra olim Picentia
Terra di Bari et Basilicata
Terra di Otranto olim Salentina et Iapigia
Calabria Citra olim Magna Graecia
Calabria Ultra olim Altera Magna Graeciae Pars
Ischia Isola, olim Aenaria
Isola Di Sardegna
Sicilia Regnum
Graecia
Macedonia, Epirus et Achaia
Morea olim Peloponnesus
Candia olim Creta
Cyclades Insulae in Mare Aegeo Hodie Archipelago
Maris Aegaei Quod hodie Archipelago Nuncupatur, Pars Septentrionalis

Details

Cartographer	Willem Janszoon Blaeu
Title	Sevende Stuck der Aerdrycks-Beschryving, Welck Vervat Italien en Griecken.
Publisher, Year	Joan Blaeu, Amsterdam, 1664-65
Size	57.0 x 38.5 cm (22.4 x 15.2 inches), Folio
Illustrations	1 old coloured engraved title, 64 old coloured double page copper engraved maps, 1 old coloured full page copper engraved map, 2 old coloured copper engraved maps in the text.
Cover	Vellum binding with blind and gilt stamping
Reference	Van der Krogt, P.: Koeman's Atlantes Neerlandici, 2:621.7

Condition

17th century Dutch vellum, brightly gilt and large central arabesques, remnants of original green ties. A little rubbed especially in the spine extremes.

Splendid, complete copy with old, contemporary colouring. Wide margin and very good paper quality. Almost no shine-through of the text on verso, as often heavily seen with Blaeu atlases. No oxidation of the beautiful contemporary colours. One map (Ducato Di Ferrara) with corner tear-off in outer top left corner within the white margin. Otherwise a flawless copy, hard to find in such beautiful and clean condition.

Cartographer

Willem Janszoon Blaeu was born 1571 in Alkmaar. He was trained from 1594 to 1596 by the famous danish astronomer Tycho Brahe. 1599 he went to Amsterdam and founded a business as globe maker. Later he started producing map and sea charts, including his first world map in 1605. In 1633 he was appointed Hydrographer for the Dutch East India Company (VOC). His most famous work was the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum sive Atlas Novus of 1635, which was published until 1655 in total six volumes. After Blaeu's death in 1638 his sons Joan and Cornelis continued the business and finished the Atlas Novus and started an even larger work, the Atlas Maior, which reached 12 volumes. In 1672 a fire destroyed the printing house and most of the printing plates. Joan Blaeu died the following year, leaving the business to his three sons Willem (1635-1701), Pieter (1637-1706) and Joan II (1650-1712). While the business began to decline in the hands of his sons, the dominance of the Blaeu publishing house finally ended in 1703 when the V.O.C. stopped publishing maps bearing the Blaeu family name. Some of the surviving plates were bought by F. de Wit and Schenk & Valk.

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Willem Janszoon Blaeu: Sevende Stuck der Aerdrycks-Beschryving, Welck Vervat Italien en Griecken..

Atlas of Italy and Greece from Atlas Maior by Joan Blaeu. Printed 1664 in Amsterdam.

Atlases - Blaeu, Willem Janszoon - Sevende Stuck der Aerdrycks-Beschryving,...