AW7-250: Willem Blaue - Colored Engraving Map

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COMMENTS: Circa 1640 - Willem Blaue is considered the greatest Dutch cartographer of all time. His maps are stunningly illustrated, filled with marvelous details, and are far more collectible (and valuable) than those by most of his contemporaries

The 17th century was probably the most important period in the making of modern Europe. It was during this time that Galileo and Newton founded modern science. It was also a time when cartographers drew inspiration from explorers and with the help and vision of publishers produced outstanding maps of Europe and the rest of the world in a manner that was more refined than ever before.
The 17th century witnessed the birth of colonization, with several countries competing for wealth and power in America and Asia. The Dutch, French, Spanish, Portuguese, English, and others, all struggled to maintain and extend colonies and trading posts in distant corners of the globe. This also necessitated the mapping of new sea routes and hence new lands that had earlier been ignored by mapmakers.
It is not surprising therefore, that the names of so many cartographers, printers and publishers appear in the history of the 17th century. One man to whom we owe a great debt for his incredible contribution to the publishing of maps is Joan Blaeu, the eldest son of Willem Janszoon Blaeu. It was under the control of Joan that the Blaeu printing press achieved lasting fame by moving towards the printing of maps and expanding to become the largest printing press in Europe in the 17th century.
Until the late 1620s, the Mercator maps published by Jodocus Hondius II dominated the European market for world atlases. However, following the latter's death in 1629, and the growing competition in publishing sea charts and pilot books, the Blaeu business seized its opportunity to publish a grand world atlas.