BLAEU, Joan Theatrum orbis terrarum sive Atlas... Lot 559

BLAEU, Joan Theatrum orbis terrarum sive Atlas Novus Pars Quarta. Amsterdam J. Blaeu 1645 Large folio: [10 incl. engr. title]-460-[1] pp.; 58 maps (text lvs and maps sl. browned, rather heavily dampstained and occ. moulded in upper part, marg. tear p. 97, hole in maps of Oxfordshire, Suffolk, and in text p. 385). Contemp. vellum, gilt-decorated covers and spine (spine damaged, used). S.w.a.f. First edition of Blaeu's Atlas of England, in Latin. Most maps are engraved after the lavishly decorated and highly accurate copperplates by J. Hondius who, between 1605 and 1610, was employed by John Speed to engrave the plates for his "Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine" (London 1611-12), the earliest published atlas of the entire British Isles and a standard reference until the beginning of the 18th century. For the text part J. Blaeu used W. Camden's Britannia (1st 1586), the first chorographical survey of the islands of Great Britain and Ireland. The atlas was added as the 4th vol. to the "Theatrum orbis terrarum". Ref. Van der Krogt II [2:301Ha]. Prov. Hermits of St. Augustine in Brussels (ms. entry). - Libr. stamp.