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1640 circa Willem Janszoon Blaeu
$ 2,200.00
Description

Striking example of Blaeu's highly sought after map of Bermuda, with remarkable decorative cartouche, compass rose, and other embellishments. The map is based upon John Norwood's survey of 1618. The text at the bottom includes a division into lots and tribes and a list of the Proprietors. A few wormholes have been invisibly repaired at the centerfold, otherwise, a striking margined example of the most decorative of all 17th Century maps of Bermuda to appear in a commercial 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.