Beschreibung:

BLAEU, Willem Janszoon (1571-1638) and Johannes BLAEU (c.1598-1673). Novus Atlas, das ist Welt-beschreibung . Amsterdam: Joan Blaeu 1647-[1655]. 6 volumes, 2° (530 x 340mm). Text in German. 8 hand-coloured engraved architectural and allegorical titles, all but one with letterpress overslips, ALL HEIGHTENED IN GOLD, 403 engraved maps and plans, mostly double-page, including 7 folding, all coloured in a contemporary hand, woodcut initials and tailpieces, mounted on guards throughout. (Without map of China in vol. II, not always present, occasional unobtrusive marginal spotting, browning to vols. V & VI.) Original publisher's binding of gilt-blocked and tooled vellum over pasteboard, gilt and gauffered edges, some green silk fore-edge ties remaining (a few stains to one cover). Provenance : Count Jakob Johann von Lowenburg (crowned CL monogram stamp, in 1748)-- Vienna, Piarist College (18th-century inscription)-- Vienna, Staatsgymnasium (stamps dated 1871)-- 18th-century shelf-labels on upper covers. A FINE TALL COPY WITH EXCEPTIONAL HAND-COLOURING of the complete six-volume German edition of Blaeu's Theatrum Orbis Terrarum . Blaeu first enlarged his three-volume Theatrum in 1647 with the publication of Volume IV. The fifth and sixth volumes were then issued in 1654 and 1655. The colouring of this copy is particularly fine; both the heightening in gold on the titles and the detailed work on the cartouches throughout suggest that it was finished specially for a noble client. The German editions of Blaeu's atlases are particularly interesting. In the same way that the Spanish edition of the Theatrum and Atlas Maior are rare because of their limited circulation, the German edition of Blaeu's Theatrum became the principal vernacular edition available to the German market in the mid-17th century. Although Blaeu later issued a German edition of the Atlas Maior , Koeman and van der Krogt both consider this work to have been adapted to order from the six-volume Theatrum editions. It was not listed in Blaeu's stock catalogue of 1670 and only survives in two rather composite copies, recorded by Koeman. It is curious that the demand for the German edition was considerably less than for those in other European languages. Complete copies of the German six-volume Theatrum are rare at auction. This copy comprises: Volume I: Northern and Eastern Europe, Germania and the Low Countries. Title dated 1649, section title dated 1647, 120 engraved maps, including 6 folding and 1 single-page, and engraved text illustration. (Occasional unobtrusive light spotting or browning, bifolium {H} browned.) Koeman/van der Krogt 2:232.1L. Volume II: France, Spain and the Continents. Title and section title dated 1647, 91 (of 92) engraved maps, including one folding. (Without map of China, Koeman/der Krogt no. 71, also not present in Innsbruck Universitätsbibliothek copy, light marginal spotting, occasional browning.) Koeman/van der Krogt 2:232.2J. Volume III: Italy and Greece. Title dated 1647, 62 engraved maps including 2 half-page and 1 single-page. (A few maps browned.) Koeman/van der Krogt 2:232.3J. Volume IV: England and Wales. Title dated 1648, 58 engraved maps, including one single-page uncoloured map, with 3 hand-coloured engraved plates in the text and 2 engraved text-illustrations. (Some browning, mostly confined to text, loss to lower corner of p.159, not affecting text.) Koeman/van der Krogt 2:331.K. Volume V: Scotland and Ireland. Title dated 1654, engraved maps. (Varying degrees of browning throughout, heaviest on text block.) Koeman/van der Krogt 2:431. Volume VI: China and Japan. Title as Koeman 2:26B, in Latin, with short German title supplied in manuscript, no date, but after 1655. (Some browning throughout.) (6)