Mechlinia Dominium et Aerschot Ducatus - Brussels/ Brabant/ Antwerp - Willem Janszoon Blaeu - 1635
Mechlinia Dominium et Aerschot Ducatus. Hand Coloured Engraving. 41cm x 52cm neat line to neat line. Brussels/ Brabant/ Antwerp. BLAEU, W. – Amsterdam – 1635
A very richly engraved, quite large-scale map of Belgium’s most populace central region. As much as anything else, this is a road map showing the links between several major and minor cities, including Antwerp in the north and Brussels in the south, with Mechelen and Aarschot in the centre. The map’s scale is large enough to include street plans of the several cities and towns on the map.
Willem Janszoon Blaeu was born 1571 in Alkmaar. He was trained from 1594 to 1596 by the famous danish astronomer Tycho Brahe. 1599 he went to Amsterdam and founded a business as globe maker. Later he started producing map and sea charts, including his first world map in 1605. In 1633 he was appointed Hydrographer for the Dutch East India Company (VOC). His most famous work was the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum sive Atlas Novus of 1635, which was published until 1655 in total six volumes. After Blaeu's death in 1638 his sons Joan and Cornelis continued the business and finished the Atlas Novus and started an even larger work, the Atlas Maior, which reached 12 volumes. In 1672 a fire destroyed the printing house and most of the printing plates. Joan Blaeu died the following year, leaving the business to his three sons Willem (1635-1701), Pieter (1637-1706) and Joan II (1650-1712). While the business began to decline in the hands of his sons, the dominance of the Blaeu publishing house finally ended in 1703 when the V.O.C. stopped publishing maps bearing the Blaeu family name. Some of the surviving plates were bought by F. de Wit and Schenk & Valk.
Map in excellent condition with a few foxing spots in the borders outside of the engraving. Pricing and grading commensurate.
Mechlinia Dominium et Aerschot Ducatus. Hand Coloured Engraving. 41cm x 52cm neat line to neat line. Brussels/ Brabant/ Antwerp. BLAEU, W. – Amsterdam – 1635
A very richly engraved, quite large-scale map of Belgium’s most populace central region. As much as anything else, this is a road map showing the links between several major and minor cities, including Antwerp in the north and Brussels in the south, with Mechelen and Aarschot in the centre. The map’s scale is large enough to include street plans of the several cities and towns on the map.
Willem Janszoon Blaeu was born 1571 in Alkmaar. He was trained from 1594 to 1596 by the famous danish astronomer Tycho Brahe. 1599 he went to Amsterdam and founded a business as globe maker. Later he started producing map and sea charts, including his first world map in 1605. In 1633 he was appointed Hydrographer for the Dutch East India Company (VOC). His most famous work was the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum sive Atlas Novus of 1635, which was published until 1655 in total six volumes. After Blaeu's death in 1638 his sons Joan and Cornelis continued the business and finished the Atlas Novus and started an even larger work, the Atlas Maior, which reached 12 volumes. In 1672 a fire destroyed the printing house and most of the printing plates. Joan Blaeu died the following year, leaving the business to his three sons Willem (1635-1701), Pieter (1637-1706) and Joan II (1650-1712). While the business began to decline in the hands of his sons, the dominance of the Blaeu publishing house finally ended in 1703 when the V.O.C. stopped publishing maps bearing the Blaeu family name. Some of the surviving plates were bought by F. de Wit and Schenk & Valk.
Map in excellent condition with a few foxing spots in the borders outside of the engraving. Pricing and grading commensurate.
Mechlinia Dominium et Aerschot Ducatus. Hand Coloured Engraving. 41cm x 52cm neat line to neat line. Brussels/ Brabant/ Antwerp. BLAEU, W. – Amsterdam – 1635
A very richly engraved, quite large-scale map of Belgium’s most populace central region. As much as anything else, this is a road map showing the links between several major and minor cities, including Antwerp in the north and Brussels in the south, with Mechelen and Aarschot in the centre. The map’s scale is large enough to include street plans of the several cities and towns on the map.
Willem Janszoon Blaeu was born 1571 in Alkmaar. He was trained from 1594 to 1596 by the famous danish astronomer Tycho Brahe. 1599 he went to Amsterdam and founded a business as globe maker. Later he started producing map and sea charts, including his first world map in 1605. In 1633 he was appointed Hydrographer for the Dutch East India Company (VOC). His most famous work was the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum sive Atlas Novus of 1635, which was published until 1655 in total six volumes. After Blaeu's death in 1638 his sons Joan and Cornelis continued the business and finished the Atlas Novus and started an even larger work, the Atlas Maior, which reached 12 volumes. In 1672 a fire destroyed the printing house and most of the printing plates. Joan Blaeu died the following year, leaving the business to his three sons Willem (1635-1701), Pieter (1637-1706) and Joan II (1650-1712). While the business began to decline in the hands of his sons, the dominance of the Blaeu publishing house finally ended in 1703 when the V.O.C. stopped publishing maps bearing the Blaeu family name. Some of the surviving plates were bought by F. de Wit and Schenk & Valk.
Map in excellent condition with a few foxing spots in the borders outside of the engraving. Pricing and grading commensurate.
Code : A656
Cartographer : Cartographer / Engraver / Publisher: Willem Janszoon Blaeu
Date : Publication Place / Date - Circa 1635
Size : Sheet size: Image Size: 62.5 x 54 cm
Availability : Available
Type - Genuine - Antique
Grading A
Where Applicable - Folds as issued. Light box photo shows the folio leaf centre margin hinge ‘glue’, this is not visible otherwise.
Tracked postage, in casement. Please contact me for postal quotation outside of the UK.