Das Wiflispurgergow. Gerardo Mercatore Auctore.

Engraved map of Western Switzerland by Willem Janszoon Blaeu. The map shows the Romandie with the cantons of Vaud and Friborg, Lake Geneva (Lac Léman) in the south, Lake Thun (Thunersee) in the east and Lake Neuchâtel, Lake Biel (Lac de Bienne) and Lake Murten (Lac de Morat) in the north. With Geneva, Lausanne and Bern. Beautiful title cartouche, below a mileage scale. From the Latin edition of the Atlas Maior from 1662. Latin text on verso. Beautiful old colouring. The larger towns are heightened with gold.

Very good condition. Wide margin.

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.