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Blaeu's Grand Atlas 11 volumes, folio (555 by 360mm), three engraved allegorical frontispieces, architectural frontispieces, letterpress titles with engraved vignettes and divisional half-titles, 594 engraved maps and plates, mostly double-page (some folding), extra-illustrated with 18 engraved maps, engraved illustrations, coloured throughout in a contemporary hand, frontispieces and engraved titles heightened in gold, a.e.g., publisher's vellum gilt with yapp fore-edges, covers panelled with stylised foliate roll, and large centre and corner arabesques, with central armillary sphere tool, spine divided into eight compartments by horizontal rolls, decorated with foliate corner pieces around a central rose tool, with remnants of original ties. An fine extra-illustrated edition of Blaeu's greatest work. Containing 18 extra maps by Visscher and de Wit, together with the allegorical frontispieces for Europe, America, and Africa, present in very few copies, all finely coloured and heightened in gold. The 'Atlas Major' in its various editions was the largest atlas ever published. It was justly famed for its production values, its high typographic standard, and the quality of its engraving, ornamentation, binding, and colouring. The atlas frequently served as the official gift of the Dutch Republic to princes and other authorities. It is one of the most lavish and highly prized of all seventeenth-century illustrated books. "In its sheer size and scale it surpassed all other atlases then in circulation, including the efforts of his great predecessors Ortelius and Mercator" (Brotton). The work was published simultaneously in five different languages, Latin, French, Dutch, Spanish, and German. What Blaeu managed to achieve was to contain the world in a book, an endeavour that in many respects would never be equalled. Publication history Blaeu's great work was born in 1630 when he published his first atlas, the 'Atlas Appendix'. The book consisted of 60 maps, and was billed by Blaeu as a supplement to Mercator's atlas. His great rivals, Henricus Hondius and Johannes Janssonius, had expanded and reissued Mercator's work. They were so frightened of Blaeu's move into the publication of atlases that they rushed out a rival 'Appendix' by the end of the same year. Over the next 30 years this great publishing rivalry would spur the production of ever larger and more lavish atlases. In 1634, Willem Blaeu produced his 'Atlas Novus', containing 161 maps; this was expanded in 1635 to two volumes, containing 207 maps. The house of Blaeu was so successful that in 1637 they moved into larger premises. The new building was the largest printing house in Europe, with its own print foundry and nine letterpresses. Unfortunately, Willem did not live long after the move and he passed away the following year. He was succeeded in business by his son Joan, who also inherited the lucrative and influential post of Hydrographer to the Dutch East India Company (V.O.C.). Over the next 20 years Joan expanded the 'Atlas Novus': adding a third volume in 1640 covering Italy and Greece; in 1645, a fourth volume on the British Isles; and in 1654 a volume relating to China, the Atlas Sinensis. This was the first western atlas of China, based on the work of the Jesuit Marteo Martini. Janssonius managed to keep pace with his more illustrious rival. In 1646 he published a four volume atlas, adding a fifth the first folio sea atlas in 1650, and in 1658 a sixth consisting of 450 maps, some 47 more than Blaeu's similar work. In 1662, Blaeu announced that he would auction his bookselling business in order to finance the imminent publication of his great atlas. From a brief look at the numbers it is clear that Blaeu needed the capital. The creation of the five editions took six years, from 1659 to 1665. It is estimated that 1,550 copies over all five editions were printed. If one totals up the entire print run, it comes to just over 5.4 million pages of text, and 950,000 copp.
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