Willem Janszoon Blaeu (1571-1638) and Jan Blaeu (1596-1673)
The Blaeu family was one of the most renowned publishers of maps, globes, atlases, and books of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Throughout their almost seventy-year career, they dominated the field of Dutch cartography. The family became one of the most important and prolific map producers in Amsterdam until 1672, when a disastrous fire destroyed their shop, equipment, plates, and inventory, effectively leaving the business in ruin.
Willem Janszoon Blaeu was born in 1571 in the Dutch town of Uitgeest, near Alkmaar. He studied as a young man under the astronomer Tycho Brahe and founded his company as a maker of globes and instruments in 1596. The firm quickly grew and added publishing maps, topographical works, and sea charts to their offerings. From around 1621, Willem added the name ‘Blaeu’ to his own to create a distinction between himself and another Janssonius family.
In 1623, the Blaeu firm published the 'Het Licht der Zeevaerdt,' an atlas of sea-charts. Six years later, Willem and his son Jan purchased 37 engraved plates from the widow of their rival mapmaker Jodocus Hondius II, and the following year they produced their first land atlas, the 'Atlantis Appendix' which contained sixty maps. This was expanded in 1635, to make the "Atlas Novus," a major world atlas in six volumes also containing county maps of England and Wales. Blaeu’s business continued to thrive and in 1633, he was appointed the official chart-maker of the East India Company. Blaeu died five years later, leaving the business to his sons Jan and Cornelis. Jan succeeded his father as official cartographer of the East India Company in 1638. In 1644, Cornelius died unexpectedly at thirty years old.
Jan possessed exemplary cartographic talent in his own right, publishing his ‘Atlas Maior,’ one of the most impressive printed works ever produced by the Blaeus. The atlas, considered one of the largest and most spectacular Dutch atlases ever made, was published from 1662-1665, with 594 maps and over 3,000 pages of text. It was the most expensive book available in the mid-17th century, a prized possession for the wealthy to display and admire. It was first published in Latin, then in Dutch, French, German, and Spanish. The incredible achievement of Jan’s atlas cemented the Blaeu family in cartographic history.
The family’s great success met an abrupt end in 1672, when a devastating fire ripped through their property and destroyed much of the business, including their invaluable copper plates. Jan Blaeu died the following year, leaving the remnants of the company to his three sons. Unfortunately, because of the fires’ overwhelming damage, the Blaeu firm was unable to recover and soon after were forced to declare bankruptcy.
Despite their business’ devastating ending, the Blaeu firm was the largest printing house in Europe for much of the 17th century. Because of their immense contribution to the field of mapmaking, they are one of the most significant players in the Dutch Golden Age of Cartography, 1570-1670.
