A Mirror of the World: Five Centuries of Geographical Atlases
Theatrum orbis terrarum, sive Atlas Novus…Editae Guiljl.
Et Joanne Blaeu. T.1. Amsterdam, J. G. Blaeu, 1645
1 vol.(295 pl.) 46õ31 cm. Copperplate engraving. Hand-Coloured.
Shelfmark: Ê 0-Ìèð-8/112-1
The Novus Atlas is one of the most important works of Willem Blaeu, the founder of the well-known publishing house. It was originally issued in two volumes (1635), but subsequently expanded by Joan Blaeu to four volumes (this edition), and in 1655 a six-volume publication appeared. The atlas contains maps of the world, single continents, countries and parts of countries. It is accompanied by five highly coloured and extensive discriptions. Blaeu's works were unparalleled in their size and the richness of their decoration, and were a brilliant examples of the Golden Age of Dutch Cartography.
Nova totius terrarum orbis geographica ac hydrographica
tabula.[1645]
1 pl. 30õ49 cm. Copperplate engraving. Hand-Coloured.
Scale: [1:93 000 000]
It is one of the most impressive world maps from the seventeenth-century Dutch atlases, compiled by Blaeu and engraved by Joshua van den Enden. The map was originally published separately in 1606. From 1606 to 1658 it was included in atlases. The map shows state frontiers, countries, towns, and mountains. Supplementary maps of the Polar Regions are located in the bottom corners of the map. The map is divided into four climatic zones, based on the duration of the longest day of the year (the summer solstice), and into four latitudinal zones. The zones are designated along the edges of the map.
The decorative borders consist of allegorical representations of the Sun and Moon, the five known planets (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn); the four basic elements (Fire, Air, Water and Earth); the seasons and the Seven Wonders of the World.
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