A beautifully bound, well-preserved large-paper copy of the first Dutch edition of Joan Blaeu's great atlas of the cities and towns of the Low Countries, with about 320 maps, plans, and views, mostly printed from double-page plates produced by Blaeu himself, but also many half-page city plans printed from the plates of Hendrik Hondiuss first (1632) edition of Boxhorns atlas of Dutch cities and towns. The present copy includes the only two groups of leaves added immediately after the initial publication in 1652 (for Alkmaar and Enkhuizen, perhaps already before the end of the year 1652). In addition to maps and plans, the engravings show city profiles, important buildings and monuments, and many are adorned with spectacular cartouches, coats of arms and occasionally pictorial decorations. The accompanying texts provide valuable information on the cities' geography, history, important buildings and culture. "Of all the Blaeu atlases, the town atlases of the Netherlands are held in the highest esteem in the Netherlands" (Koeman in Van der Krogt IV-1, p. 299). "Nothing gives a more beautiful and magnificent picture of the Dutch Golden Age than the ... plans of towns ... in the Toonneel der steden ... The towns were the centre of power, prosperity, industry and culture" (Dutch splendour).
Joan Blaeu (1596-1673) first published his atlas of cities and towns of the Low Countries in Latin, immediately after the October 1648 Peace of Westphalia, probably in early 1649. At the end of the 80 Years' War (1648) the Dutch gained international recognition as a major independent nation in Europe and a great maritime power throughout the world. Blaeu produced his atlas in two volumes: one for the cities of the independent Dutch Republic (more or less today's Netherlands) and the other for the cities of the parts of the Low Countries that remained under control of the Spanish crown (more or less today's Belgium and Luxembourg). The two volumes have no volume numbers, but were clearly designed to match in format and style, and that for the Dutch Republic is generally treated as volume 1. Blaeus publication of this atlas and its division into two volumes (that for the Dutch Republic more extensive than that for the Spanish Netherlands) symbolizes the power of the Republic and implies that its territories, formerly under Spanish rule, now form a unified nation with a cultural coherence, sending this message both to the outside world (in the two Latin editions) and to the Dutch people themselves (in the present Dutch edition). Most of the double-page and full-page maps were newly engraved for these editions, often based on new or supplementary surveys as well, while most of the half-page maps were printed from the plates of Marcus Boxhorn's 1632 Theatrum ... Hollandiae.
A more detailed description is available upon request.
With this atlas, Blaeu spared no expense to proudly produce not only a great monument to the Dutch Republic but also a great monument to Dutch book production.
With a complete set of preliminaries (preface and the 3 different privileges) - including the title slips on both title-pages - in both volumes. The binding show some minor dust soiling, internally some very slight water staining in the top outer corner of the second half of the first volume and in the bottom margin near the gutter in the second volume - neither affecting any text or illustrations. The edges and corners of some of the leaves in both volumes have been restored and reinforced. Large-paper copy of Joan Bleaus great atlas of cities and towns of the Low Countries, a beautiful atlas and an important monument to the Dutch Republic, bound in the classic gold-tooled overlapping vellum to match Blaeu's Grooten Atlas (or Atlas maior) Ad 1: STCN 850164745 (19 copies); Ad 2: STCN 850164222 (15 copies); Whole work: V.d. Krogt, Koeman's Atlantes Neerlandici IV-1, 43:121, issue 4; Fontaine Verwey, Uit de wereld van het boek III, pp. 169-170; http://bc.library.uu.nl/dutch-splendour-17th-century-blaeu's-town-plans.html.