Blaeu's first Map of China.
Old coloured map of China by Willem Blaeu. China is outlined in green and bounded by the Great Wall in the north. Korea is still depicted as an island. The representation of Japan was taken from the Japan map of Ortelius.
Decorated with a beautiful title cartouche, two Dutch merchant ships and two Chinese junks. The lower cartouche is dedicated to Theodore Bas, a former director of the Dutch East India Company VOC.
Some minor browning in margins. Beautiful old colour. Very good condition.
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.
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Willem Janszoon Blaeu: China Veteribus Sinarum Regio nunc Incolis Tame dicta.
Old coloured map of China. Printed in Amsterdam by J. Blaeu in 1634.
China - Blaeu, Willem Janszoon - China Veteribus Sinarum Regio nunc Incolis...