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Code: 53228
Author: Blaeu, Willem Janzoon
Date published: 1645 circa
Early map of Savoy, showing Geneva, Lake Geneva, Grenobel, etc. The title is in a decorative cartouche surmounted by putti. Copper engraving with original and later hand colouring. Overall sheet size: 50.5cms x 40.7cms; image size: 492mm x 378mm. Latin text verso pp 54 Willem Janszoon Blaeu (1571-1638) was a prominent Dutch geographer and publisher. The son of a herring merchant, Blaeu studied mathematics and astronomy. He studied instrument and globe making with the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe. Blaeu set up shop in Amsterdam, where he sold instruments and globes, published maps. 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 then joined his father's business. 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.