Copper engraving, mm 385x495, contemporary colouring. Very good copy with some light paper discoloration. Willem Blaeu, an astronomer and pupil of Tycho Brahe, founded a workshop for the construction of globes in 1599; almost immediately, he also began to publish maps, leading in 1630 to the creation of the first atlas 'Atlantis Appendix' and five years later, the first edition in two volumes of the 'Atlas Novus'. After his death in 1662, the famous 11-volume 'Atlas Maior' was published by his son Johan. In 1672, a fire destroyed the workshop and marked the end of the business.