Each huge page is a delight and an artwork of great beauty. Joan Blaeu (1596 Alkmaar-1673 Amsterdam) was a leading Dutch cartographer and member of the Amsterdam council. Son of Willem Blaeu, also a famed cartographer, Joan and his brother Cornelius took over his father?s workshop in 1638. He became the official cartographer of the Dutch East India Company and would gain further fame with a collection of Dutch city maps entitled Tooneel der Steeden, the first atlas of Scotland, and the masterwork Atlas Maior. Superlatives tend to fail in the face of Joan Blaeu's Atlas Maior, one of the most extravagant feats in the history of mapmaking with its exquisitely decorated borders in colourful crests and queens and houses and peoples. The original Latin edition, completed in 1665, was the largest and most expensive book to be published during the 17th century. Its 594 maps across 11 volumes in Latin spanned Arctica, Africa, Asia, Europe, and America. Taschen's meticulous reprint brings this luxurious Baroque wonder into the hands of modern readers. In an age of digitised cartography, it celebrates the steadfast beauty of quality print and restores the wonder of an exploratory age, in which Blaeu's native Amsterdam was a centre of international trade and discovery. The edition derives from the Austrian National Library's complete coloured and gold-heightened copy of Atlas Maior, assuring the finest detail and quality. University of Amsterdam's Peter van der Krogt introduces the historical and cultural significance of the atlas while providing detailed descriptions for individual maps, revealing the full scale and ambition of Blaeu's masterwork. 25 x 38cm, 4.13 kg, 512 pages. Text in English, French, German. Another gorgeous and collectable Taschen publication.
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