Submitted by Anonymous on
We're very pleased to announce that OML has recently received an impression of a very rare map of the Atlantic, published in Amsterdam ca.1630, by Willem Blaeu (OS-1630-8).
As far as we can tell from the literature, this is only the third known impression of the first state of this map, which continued to be printed into the eighteenth century (the New York Public Library has a post-1700 impression). Despite the long life of the plate, few impressions survive. This particular impression survived because it had been folded down to fit into a book. Philip Burden, The Mapping of North America: A List of Printed Maps, 1511-1670 (Rickmansworth, Herts.: Raleigh Publications, 1996), no. 233, is a good starting point for learning about the map; Günter Schilder, Monumenta Cartographica Neerlandica, 8 vols. (Alphen aan den Rijn: Canaletto, 1986-2006), 4:114-16, provided much more information.
Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of the map is that it is large, 81.5cm high by 99.5cm wide, and printed on four sheets, but from just one printing plate! That's right ~ rather than being printed from four separate plates, and the four sheets then being joined, this map was printed from a single large plate directly onto four pre-joined sheets. Cool, huh?
mhe