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Description

Rare early edition of Blaeu's map of Colombia, part of Ecuador extending south to Esmereldas, and Venezuela extending east nearly to Caracas. Includes 2 large compass roses, and two large cartouches. Provides excellent view of mid 17th Century Columbia, including the course of the Magdallena River and its major tributaries. From the 1634 German edition of Blaeu's Atlas Novus, the first edition of this seminal work. The map was first issued in the 1630 edition of Blaeu's Atlas Appendix, making this its third appearance in an atlas. Dark crisp impression and wide clean margins.

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.