Africa

Acquired From: Leen Helmink

Colouring: Coloured

Condition: Very Good

Confirmed: Yes

Date Acquired: 24/12/2016

Description: Following the death of Willem Blaeu in 1638, his son Joan Blaeu expanded and refined the familys atlas project, culminating in the monumental Atlas Maior. The origins of this enterprise, however, extend back several decades. In 1599, after briefly studying with the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe, Willem Janszoon Blaeu settled in Amsterdam, where he established himself as a maker of globes, astronomical instruments, wall maps, and pilot books. nIn 1629, following the death of Jodocus Hondius Jr., Blaeu acquired thirty-seven copperplates from the Hondius family. The following year, working with his eldest son Joan, he published the Atlantis Appendix, a single-volume world atlas comprising sixty maps, many derived from the Hondius plates. This was followed in 1631 by Appendix Theatri A. Ortelii et Atlantis G. Mercatoris, further expanding Blaeu's cartographic output.nIn 1634, Blaeu announced a more ambitious international edition of his atlas. That same year, a hastily assembled German-language version appeared under the title Novus Atlas das ist Abbildung und Beschreibung von allen Ländern des Erdreichs, with several maps left incomplete (View Record (#76)). A more formal and complete edition followed in 1635, issued simultaneously in Dutch (Toonneel des Aerdrycks, ofte Nieuwe Atlas), Latin (Novus Atlas), and French (Le Théâtre du Monde). These multilingual volumes were designed for a broad European readership. Their title pages were later imitated by Blaeus principal rival Johannes Janssonius in his own Le Théâtre du Monde ou nouvel atlas (1639, 1643; #303 and View Record (#320)).nOver the next two decades, Joan Blaeu expanded the atlas with volumes dedicated to Italy and Greece (1640), England and Wales (1645), Scotland and Ireland (1654), and China (Atlas Sinensis, 1655). The project reached its peak with the publication of the Atlas Maior, sive Cosmographia Blaviana, first issued in Latin (1662, 11 vols.), and subsequently translated into Dutch (Grooten Atlas, oft Werelt-Beschrijvinge, 1664, 9 vols.), French (Le Grand Atlas, ou Cosmographie Blaviane, 1667, 12 vols.), and Spanish (Atlas Mayor, o Geographia Blaviana, 1672, 10 vols.).nFor both the 1635 Dutch, Latin, and French precursors of the Atlas Maior, Geographia Blaviana, Joan Blaeu introduced a coordinated series of engraved title pages, each serving as an allegorical gateway to a specific geographic region. From these earlier publications, the present collection includes an early 1638 reissue of the French title page from Le Théâtre du Monde (View Record (#351)), as well as two title pages for the Spanish section: one from the 1644 French edition of Le Théâtre du Monde, ou nouvel atlas (View Record (#147)), and another from the 1658 Dutch edition of Toonneel des Aerdrycks (View Record (#318)).nThe collection also includes title pages from the Atlas Maior, Geographia Blaviana: the general title page (View Record (#157)), along with allegorical frontispieces for the Arctic (View Record (#284)), Europe (View Record (#151)), Africa (View Record (#149)), and America (View Record (#150)). A distinct title page for Asia (View Record (#152)) was adapted from the earlier Atlas Sinensis of 1655. In addition, the collection features View Record (#148), which introduces the section on Tycho Brahes astronomical instruments.nThe title page for Africa is an allegorical composition that reflects early modern European conceptions of the continentrich in natural resources, exotic animals, and imperial fantasy. Africa is personified as a black female figure, draped and jewelled, holding a cornucopia (abundance) and a scorpion (danger). At her feet, black putti play among gold ingots and an ivory tusk, both of which allude to the continents perceived precious materials and trade.nThe foreground is populated with emblematic faunalion, elephant, and snakessymbols of strength, rarity, and peril. In the background, an obelisk rises, referencing the monuments of Egypt or Ethiopia, regions long mythologised in European geographical and biblical imagination.nThe present version was reprinted in the mid-eighteenth century by the Ottens brothers, Reiner and Joshua, prominent map and print publishers in Amsterdam. Active from 1726 under the imprint R & I Ottens, they specialised in reissuing earlier cartographic works, including plates originally published by Blaeu. This later printing preserves the visual language of the original, demonstrating the long afterlife of Blaeus continental allegories in eighteenth-century Amsterdam publishing.

First published: Atlas Maior, sive Cosmographia Blaviana… Vol. 1, Amsterdam: Joan Blaeu, 1662

Mapmaker: Blaeu, Joan (1596-1673)

Price: 3,500

Primary Category: Titlepage

Rarity: R2 Very rare – one or two copies appear on the market

Shirley ID #: 52B Courtiers and Cannibals

Technique: Copper Engraving

This state: 1730: Amsterdam, R. & J. Ottens