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Stock# 14985

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Willem Janszoon Blaeu

Title

Tractus Danubii, Fluminis In Europa Maximi, A Fontius, Per Germaniam Et Hungariam, Belgradum Usque [Rare Section of Blaeu Wall Map]

Publication Place / Date

Amsterdam / 1634

Image Dimensions

35 x 16 inches

Color

Hand Colored

Condition

Stock# 14985

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Description

Extremely rare map of the course of the Danube, from the Swart Walt (Black Forest) to Belgrade.

The map was issued in the 1634 German edition of Blaeu's Atlas Novus, the first edition of this atlas. In his haste to get to market, Blaeu utilized fragments from a number of his most famous wall maps and separately issued maps and also included proof states of a number of other maps. This present map includes a pasted down title at the top and false left neatline, both of which were pasted on to this two sheet wall map fragment from one of Blaeu's separately issued regional wall maps of Europe. We have been able to track only one prior example of the map on the market (Tooley Adams, June 1986). A rare and important map of the Danube region in very nice condition.

No text on the verso, but offered with 4 sheets of printed text which preceded the map in the atlas.

Willem Janszoon Blaeu Biography

Willem Janszoon Blaeu (1571-1638) was a prominent Dutch geographer and publisher. Born the son of a herring merchant, Blaeu chose not fish but mathematics and astronomy for his focus. He studied with the famous Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe, with whom he honed his instrument and globe making skills. Blaeu set up shop in Amsterdam, where he sold instruments and globes, published maps, and edited the works of intellectuals like Descartes and Hugo Grotius. In 1635, he released his atlas, Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, sive, Atlas novus.

Willem died in 1638. He had two sons, Cornelis (1610-1648) and Joan (1596-1673). Joan trained as a lawyer, but joined his father’s business rather than practice. After his father’s death, the brothers took over their father’s shop and Joan took on his work as hydrographer to the Dutch East India Company. Later in life, Joan would modify and greatly expand his father’s Atlas novus, eventually releasing his masterpiece, the Atlas maior, between 1662 and 1672.