the title “Appendix Theatri Ortelii et Atlantis Mercatoris.” It
contains maps which had been previously issued, some by himself, many
by other map makers, while in numerous instances he left it difficult
to decide both date and origin. We know that as early as 1605 he
was issuing maps and charts in single sheets, following the example
of Ortelius, Mercator, Judeus and others. Baudet, it may be noted,
expresses himself as being unable to decide whether the World Map of
1605, referred to in the resolution of the States General of the 23d of
April of that year, was of this character, not knowing of the existence
of a copy of the map here reproduced in facsimile from that belonging
to the Hispanic Society of America. “My belief,” he says, “is that the
World Map of 1605 is the Nova totius terrarum orbis geographica ac
hydrographica tabula, auct. Guiljelmo Blaeuw,” according to Mercator’s
projection, to be found in the “Toonneel des Aerdrycx.”[26] Not unlike
Ortelius, Blaeu often selected for addition to his own original land
maps the best which he found it possible for him to use, redrafting
them on a scale to fit his own Atlas. In general, he greatly improved
their character by his own re-engraving, giving us maps of superior
excellence in line, in letter, and in ornamentation. He was not
unmindful of the high favor in which the Atlases of Ortelius and of
Mercator were held. He, therefore, shrewdly calls attention to their
work by giving to his own a title which suggests a connection, though
in fact he was scarcely justified in calling his Atlas an Appendix
to Ortelius and Mercator. This Atlas of 1631 contains one hundred
and three maps, with text in Latin usually printed on the back of
each. Seven of his maps are dated, twenty-seven have the names of the
original maker, and many of them are signed Guilj. Blaeu, G. J. Caesius
or Guiljelmus Janssonius et Joannes Blaeu.
He begins his preface with much praise of Ortelius and Mercator,
observing that Mercator died untimely for his work, after finishing
Europe except Spain, and he assumes it as his task to publish an
Appendix to the Atlases of these great men. He states that his Atlas
will contain maps of countries already drawn by them, but he promises
to improve them. That he did improve not a few of them is made evident
by a close comparison, yet he left many features uncorrected, which
easily could have been brought to date.
He often intimated to his friend, W. Schickard, his ever present desire
to improve his maps, in which references we find the first promises
of his work issued in 1634 under the title “Toonneel des Aerdrycx.”
In a letter dated Amsterdam, November 22, 1633, he tells his friend
of his preparation for this new Atlas,[27] expressing the hope that
he would be able to complete the first part during the winter, and
accepting from him an offer for a new map of Würtemberg, for which
he was ready and willing to pay the price asked. This map he thought
would add much to his maps of Germany. December 6, 1633, he writes
again to Schickard: “The esteemed gentleman, Hugo Grotius, has informed
you that I am planning a new Atlas, and that a considerable part of
it is already completed, in addition to my Appendix Theatri Ortelii
et Atlantis Mercatoris, which has been published, so that I will be
able to issue yet this winter two parts of reasonable size, one part
of which will contain maps of upper and lower Germany, and as I should
like to add this map of Würtemberg which you have drawn, and which
you have promised me, I therefore wish to postpone the publication a
little longer. You write that this map of Würtemberg which you have
drawn on twenty sheets can be reduced to four of common size. If,
however, you deem it better to make use of more sheets, you may follow
your pleasure. Whatever your decision, I will pay the price which you
ask for it.” On January 12, 1634, Blaeu writes Schickard again: “I am
pleased to learn you agree with my opinion in regard to the number of
maps. It is my intention to place two or three provinces on one sheet,
but it will be necessary, however, to leave some open space in which I
can write the titles of the maps, arms of the country, and the scale
of miles. Do not let this worry you, however, but follow the divisions
which are most easy for you. In the case of maps so carefully drawn,
it seems to me the larger the number, the better it will be. Forests,
buildings, etc., may be but roughly marked. If you will give the size
and exact location, I will take care that the emblematical figures are
properly represented”; and he adds that “in order to make sure that
the completed work is well done, I shall let you correct the plates
one at a time.” Somewhat later Blaeu writes again that “I shall give
especial attention to the engraving of the plates, printing lightly
from them at first, in order that changes may be made before the final
engraving is done.... Take as much time as you may need, and in case
you are unable to finish them during the summer, you may also have
the winter.” June 24, 1634, he writes to Schickard: “I have published
the first part of my Atlas, containing one hundred and sixty maps,
with descriptive text in German, translated from Latin. In the Fall I
shall publish the Latin, French and Dutch texts,” these titles being,
respectively, “Theatrum Orbis Terrarum,” but dated 1635; “Le théâtre du
monde ou nouvel atlas,” but issued in 1634; “Toonneel des Aerdrycx,”
1634. The arrangement and number of maps in the several issues do not
agree, but in the main features they are the same. The “Toonneel” may
be considered an enlargement of his “Appendix” done in practically the
same manner, but with the addition of numerous details, and ornamented
with additional illustrations. That he borrowed from the “Nieuwen
Atlas” of Joannes Janssonius and Henricus Hondius becomes evident in a
comparison of the descriptions of “Germany,” the “Netherlands,” and of
certain other parts.
The “Appendix” and the first two parts of the “Toonneel,” published
by Willem Blaeu and his son John, may be regarded as the beginning of
the large Blaeu Atlas first issued in 1662 in eleven volumes, a work
of unsurpassed excellence; indeed, we may refer to it as the foremost
atlas produced by the great Dutch atlas makers of the seventeenth
century. Its completion and issue, after the death of the father,
Willem, places it therefore without the scope of this sketch, yet as
he had contributed so much to insure its success by his own early
activities, a word of reference to it is here fitting. Editions of this
work appeared in rapid succession in the Dutch, the French, the Latin
and the Spanish language, the number of volumes being either nine, ten,
eleven or twelve in each edition, varying otherwise but little in the
essential features. As numerous copies of the work were printed in each
edition, it is therefore not a publication which can be called rare
even in this day. Most of these editions were printed from the superior
type and copper plates of the Blaeu printing house, and on paper
of fine quality; some were issued in costly bindings, having their
maps, coat of arms and emblems of states and of royalty exquisitely
colored. Copies of the atlas were especially prepared for rulers and
for statesmen of renown. We are informed that to Admiral de Ruyter an
especially fine copy was presented after the two days’ battle of 1666,
and that in the name of the States General a copy bound in royal purple
was presented to the Sultan Mohammed IV, with which he was so well
pleased that he ordered its translation into the Turkish language.
* * * * *
In Blaeu’s day globes were held to be of the highest value as aids
in the study of geography and astronomy.[28] Seamen engaged in
transoceanic navigation counted on a terrestrial and a celestial globe
as essential to a navigator’s complete outfit of instruments, and as
Blaeu was especially desirous of making his scientific knowledge serve
the cause of navigation, it was but natural that he should turn his
attention to globe making.
Among those skilled in the art of globe construction in the late
sixteenth and the early seventeenth century, the Low Countries
could claim such distinguished men as Gerhardus Mercator, Jacobus
[Florentius] van Langren and Arnoldus [Florentius] van Langren, father
and son, Jodocus Hondius and Guilielmus Jans. Blaeu, and none of these
was more skilful than the last named. Both for the number constructed
and for the quality of the work, his globes are cartographical and
astronomical treasures of the first value.
[Illustration: Terrestrial Globe and Celestial Globe, 1616. Willem
Janszoon Blaeu]
The oldest known terrestrial globe extant is that constructed by
Martin Behaim of Nuremberg in the year in which Columbus made his
first momentous voyage across the Atlantic.[29] It is a manuscript
globe, that is, a ball covered with irregular strips of parchment on
which the world map has been drawn by hand and elaborately colored.
In the first decades of the sixteenth century, numerous globes were
made either of copper on which the map was engraved, of wood, or of
a composition on which an engraved or hand drawn map was pasted.
Some of these globe maps, as for example that attributed to Martin
Waldseemüller and supposed to have been drawn in the first decade of
the sixteenth century, hence the oldest known of this character, were
engraved and printed on gores or bi-angles, and were so fashioned
mathematically that they would completely cover a ball when pasted over
its surface,[30] but not until Mercator, in 1541, engraved and printed
his famous globe gore map can such a method be said to have proved
itself to be thoroughly practical. From this time on, with now and
then a slight modification of the number of gores employed and of the
method of fitting them on the ball near the poles, globes have been
constructed in much the same manner as Mercator had constructed his
first example. That he made many globes is very certain, yet it appears
that all of these were long thought to have been destroyed, until about
forty years ago, when a complete set of his gores was found, and at
present no less than six others, either mounted or unmounted, can be
located.[31] In 1551, Mercator prepared in the same manner a celestial
globe map, all examples of which likewise had been thought to have
disappeared until the discovery of the set referred to above, and of
this globe a number of copies are now known to exist.
Quite as successful as Mercator were the van Langrens, father and son,
the first globe of the father dating as early as 1585.[32] Before the
close of the sixteenth century, Jodocus Hondius became interested in
the construction of globes, and, like the van Langrens, continued
his work in the first decade of the following century, his workshop
then falling into the hands of his sons, who for many years found the
manufacture of globes to be a profitable business.[33]
Blaeu, as before stated, must have obtained much of his early
knowledge of map and of globe construction while a pupil of Tycho at
the Castle of Uranienburg, for it was not long after his return to
Amsterdam that we find him actively engaged in this work, perhaps
in his own workshop.[34] His first globe is dated 1599. The world
map here represented is, so far as we have definite knowledge, his
first cartographical publication, and in many of its features it
gives evidence that Mercator was the master followed, notably in the
representation of the loxodrome lines which radiate from the wind or
compass roses, or from the centers regularly placed on the surface of
the globe. It has a diameter of 34 cm., which is less than that of
Mercator’s globe of 1541 but greater than that of van Langren of 1585.
The gores, twelve in number, have been cut seven degrees from each
pole, the polar space being covered with a circular disc. Blaeu, as
many other globe makers of his period, found that by thus dividing the
engraved globe maps a more nearly perfect covering for the ball could
be obtained. Meridians and parallels are drawn at intervals of ten
degrees, the prime meridian crossing the island of Santa Maria in the
Azores group. In conspicuously placed legends he presents his address
to the reader, that is, to the one who may have occasion to make use
of his globe, a dedication to the United Provinces of the Netherlands,
which, like the first, is signed Guilielmus Janssonius Alcmariensis,
and in separate inscriptions he calls attention to the great
discoveries and explorations as, for example, those of Christopher
Columbus, of Amerigo Vespucci, of Ferdinand Magellan, of Gaspar
Cortereal, and of the Dutch navigators, with a brief mention of others.
All legends are in Latin except those referring to the discoveries of
his own countrymen in the far north, in which he has employed the Dutch
language.
As in the issue of his sheet maps, Blaeu was not always careful to
add an exact date, in the majority of instances omitting the date
altogether, so in the issue of his globes he either omitted the date
or frequently gave one later than was that of the original issue. His
geographical records serve us, however, as very accurate guides in
the determination of dates, and what was so frequently true of the
globes he constructed in the last years of his life was true of this,
his first. We have, for example, one fine copy of his work, bearing
date 1599, which contains geographical records of 1616, indicating,
therefore, a late reprint with a few alterations.
Three years later, that is, in 1602, Blaeu issued a terrestrial and
a celestial globe, each having a diameter of 23 cm. He refers to his
terrestrial globe as an improvement upon that of 1599, referring
doubtless to its geographical details and not to its size. He dedicates
his work to the three provinces, Holland, Zeeland and West Friesland,
calls especial attention to the recent expedition of Olivier van der
Noort, the course of whose expedition around the world he lays down
on his map, and signs himself Guilielmo Jansonio Blaeu, substituting
his family name for the name of his birthplace. On his celestial globe
of 1602 he located the stars in accord with the reckoning of the year
1600, making use, as he states, of the observations of his friend
and teacher, Tycho Brahe, but for the southern constellations the
observations of the explorer Fredrik Houtman.[35] By reason of the fact
that so few copies of these globes of 1602 are known to exist, it has
been thought that for some reason Blaeu issued a very limited number.
We know, however, that his terrestrial globes were highly valued and
much in demand, because of the care with which they had been prepared,
because of his effort to give information concerning the latest
discoveries, and because of his representation of the loxodrome lines
which made them of special service to navigators; that his celestial
globes found favor by reason of the fact that he was known to be a
pupil and friend of Tycho Brahe; and that he himself was known to be a
mathematician and astronomer of distinction.
In 1603, he undertook the preparation of a celestial globe to
be considered a companion of his first globe of 1599. From the
observations of Brahe and of Houtman he tells us as in his work of the
preceding year, that he derived many of his details, and he honors the
former by giving his portrait a conspicuous position in his map, adding
his master’s favorite motto: “Non haberi, sed esse.”
The Hispanic Society of America possesses a fine example of Blaeu’s
early globe work. It is small in size, having a diameter of 13 cm., and
is well preserved. Near the upper part of North America is the legend
inscribed in a neat cartouche, “NOVA et accurata Terra marisque Sphera,
denuo recognita et, correcta á Guilielmo Blaeu,” and in a second legend
placed to the south of “Nova Guinea,” which is represented as a part
of the great south polar continent of “Magallanica,” he inscribes his
name with date, “Guilielmus Blaeu Anno D. 1606.” There may likewise be
found in this Society’s rich collections a terrestrial and a celestial
globe by Blaeu which clearly are companion pieces and which appear to
be unique, the latter dated 1616, the former undated.[36] These globes
have a diameter of but 10 cm., a substantial and artistic mounting of
brass, including meridian circle, horizon circle, four twisted support
columns and a circular base plate. In geographical and astronomical
details they are remarkably full, a fact especially noteworthy when
their size is taken into consideration. The first he designates as
“NOVA ORBIS TERRARVM DESCRIPTIO” and adds to this merely the name
“Blaeu”; the second he calls a “Sphaera stellata,” and in a legend he
honors his teacher Tycho Brahe by making special mention of his name,
signing himself “Guilielmus Blaeu Auctor excudit 1616.” Fiorini refers
to a Blaeu celestial globe in the Barberini Palace at Rome dated 1616,
but his description of the same shows conclusively that it is very
different from the one referred to above, and he appears to consider
its map a print of later date, though perhaps in its main features it
was originally engraved in the year designated.
The next dated and signed globes of Blaeu appear to be of the year
1622, numerous copies of which the author has been able to locate, but
in which, however, slight variations appear. From this time until his
death in the year 1638, our globe maker seems to have applied himself
most diligently to this work, the globes of his later years being much
larger than were those of his early years. This Society possesses
a well preserved example of his 1622 terrestrial globe which has a
diameter of 69 cm. Its map gives us excellent proof of Blaeu’s superior
merit in this field. Its geographical details are most numerous, making
it an object of great scientific value. Among the records of special
interest, omitting for obvious reasons at this time any extended
reference to the work, is the representation of Manhattan as an
island, apparently the earliest on a dated map.
Vossius tells us that in addition to terrestrial and celestial globes,
Blaeu also made a planetarium and a tellurium. In the first, the sun
is placed in the center of the system, about which revolve Venus,
the Earth and the Moon, Mars and Jupiter. The second represents the
double motion of the Earth, that is, its daily rotation and its annual
revolution. He remarks that nothing like it has been seen since the
time of Archimedes. Blaeu himself refers to these instruments in
his work first issued probably in 1620 with the title, “Tweevoudigh
onderwys van de Hemelsche en Aerdsche Globen,” as of value for the
study of cosmography. In connection with his description of them, he
interestingly observes that the celestial heavens are at least 20,000
times greater in diameter than is the circle of the terrestrial globe’s
course, and this in his planetarium is 2½ inches. He adds that the
diameter of the terrestrial globe’s course is 1142 times the celestial
globe’s diameter.
A very considerable number of his globes, doubtless constructed
subsequent to 1622, can now be located, though at the time of writing
his biography in 1872, Baudet could find trace of but five or six,
including those of earlier date. In a searching study of the history of
early globes, it may here be stated that the author of this monograph
has now been able to locate no less than sixty Blaeu globes.
WORLD MAP OF 1605
Among the treasures of The Hispanic Society of America may be found
a unique copy of Willem Janszoon Blaeu’s engraved World Map in two
large hemispheres, issued in the year 1605. Stretching across its
upper border is the title, “NOVA UNIVERSI TERRARUM ORBIS MAPPA EX
OPTIMIS QUIBUSQUE GEOGRAPHICIS HYDROGRAPHICISQUE TABULIS SUMMÂ INDUSTRIÂ
ACCURATISSIMÈ DELINEATA, DUOBUS PLANISPHERIIS GRAPHICÈ DEPICTA À GULIEL
JANSSONIO ALCMAR,” a title which in its special arrangement and in the
form of its letters strikingly recalls the World Map of Jodocus Hondius
of the year 1611, which, with Professor Joseph Fischer, the editor of
this World Map of Blaeu recently issued in facsimile.[37] Here is a
second fine example of Holland’s contribution to the cartography of a
period particularly rich in this field of geography. Mounted on the
coarse linen so frequently used for such purposes at that early day,
and attached to a rough wooden frame, it is not a little surprising
that it should have come down to us through these many years. The old
mounting has not been disturbed for this reproduction, and with all of
its suggestions of age, it hangs on the walls of The Hispanic Society’s
Museum amidst other rich cartographical material of the period.
No reference to this great work of Blaeu appears in the literature of
cartography, and it seems probable that we have here the only copy
extant. In the records of the States General of Amsterdam may be found,
however, the entry, “23 April 1605. Is W. Jansz. [Blaeu] van Alcmaer,
ende Herman Alartsz, die de heren Staten gepresenteert hebben een grote
Werelts Caerte, voor een gratuiteyt toegelegt 25 gl.,” and of the same
date, “Id. Is W. Jz. van Alcmaer, wonende te Amsterdam, geaccordeert
octroy, voor den tyt van 6 jaren etc. te mogen doen drukken ende vuyt
geven een groote mappam mundi in twee ronden, by hem yerst uitgegeven.”
These passages are cited by Baudet in his “Leven en werken van Willem
Jansz. Blaeu” without comment other than a very brief word which would
seem to indicate that the author had no definite knowledge of the map
or maps to which reference is made in the above record.[38] It is
altogether probable that we have in these entries a reference to this
particular map.
[Illustration: World Map from Toonneel des Aerdrycx, by Willem Janszoon
Blaeu]
Curiously and somewhat vexatiously, one finds in the reference to
the copyright privilege, granted by the authorities, appearing on
sheet thirteen, the date “23 April ----,” the numbers designating
the year wanting because of the injured condition of the map. Some
wonder is occasioned by the appearance of the French lilies in the
elaborately engraved cartouche on sheets thirteen and fourteen, and
by the dedication to Henry IV of France, which reads, “Serenissimo
Christianissimo ac potentissimo D. D. Henrico IIII Franciae et Navarre
Regi. Domino suo ... entissimo hanc Universi orbis terrarum Mappam
I. M. Q. dat di ... dedicat.” Close examination, however, discloses
the fact that both the lilies and the dedication were skilfully pasted
on the map after its completion, though by whom and on what particular
occasion remain matters of conjecture. The attachment of the coat of
arms and the dedication must have occurred before 1610, the date of
King Henry’s death, and the fact serves at least to fix the time when
the map was engraved as prior to that year, or in all probability in
1605.
The map is 244 × 134 cm. in size, including the border. The two large
hemispheres, each 116 cm. in diameter, present the world, as then
known, in stereographic projection. An ornamental border surrounds it,
and all available space outside the great hemispheres and within this
border is filled with pictures of cities, rulers in martial array,
representations of the typical races of men, while in the angles formed
at the top and at the bottom of the map, between the two hemispheres,
appear the north and the south celestial hemispheres, each 26 cm. in
diameter.