1663 Rhine River MAP Reproduction Europe Germany RHENVS Fluviorum Blaeu

Description

1663 Rhine River Map Reproduction Europe Germany RHENVS Fluviorum
Willem Blaeu, Cartographer
(I bought several of these good quality reproduction maps of Germany several decades ago.)
Rheinlauf Copperplate Engraving Rhine river - - Blaeu, Willem 1663
Colored good-quality reproduction map, 17" by 36".
This beautiful large-scale map shows the course of the Rhine from its source to its mouth. -
On top left:
colored coat of arms Switzerland, Alsace, Rheinpfalz, the archdioceses of Mainz, Trier, and Cologne, and the provinces of Kleve, Utrecht, and Holland.
Top right:
dedications, large colored title cartouche.
Bottom right:
Title Rhenus - Rhineland, illustrated with wine-drinkers.
Willem Janszoon Blaeu (1571 -- 1638) was a Dutch cartographer, atlas maker and publisher. Along with his son Johannes Blaeu, Willem is considered one of the notable figures of the Netherlandish/Dutch school of cartography in its golden age (the 16th and 17th centuries). Born at Uitgeest or Alkmaar, the son of a well-to-do herring salesman, he was destined to succeed his father in the trade, but his interests lay more in mathematics and astronomy. Between 1594 and 1596, as a student of the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe, he qualified as an instrument and globe maker.
In 1600 he discovered the second ever variable star, now known as P Cygni.
Once he returned to Holland, he made country maps and world globes, and possessed his own printing works, so he was able to regularly produce country maps in an atlas format.
In 1633 he was appointed map-maker of the Dutch East India Company. His maps
appeared in the Atlas Novus published in 1635.  He died in Amsterdam. His two sons, Johannes and Cornelis Blaeu, continued their father's mapmaking and publishing business after his death in 1638. Prints of the family's works are still sold today. Original maps are very rare collector items.