Rare 1628 Map by Willem Janszoon Blaeu Elbe River Germany

Title - Celeberrimi Fluvii Albis nova delineatio. Auctore Christiano Mollero.

Description
The course of the Elbe with the Hanseatic city of Hamburg in Germany and the mouth of the Elbe near Brunsbüttel and Glückstadt can be seen on two magnificent maps. With three cartouches, two coats of arms, compass roses and ships’ decorations.

Time - circa 1628

Engraver - Blaeu Willem Janszoon (1571-1638)

Willem Guillelmus Blaeu settled around 1590 as an instrument maker and globe maker in Amsterdam, which at that time was becoming the center of Western European cartography. He becomes hydrographer of the East India Company and in 1633 chief cartographer of the Republic of the United Netherlands. After the death of the well-known publisher Cornelis Claesz (who made Amsterdam a center of the international book trade), the way was clear for him to set up his own publishing company covering all areas (has had his own printing works since 1613). Together with the houses Hondius and Jansson he ruled until the second half of the d. 17th century card market. Willem Blaeu is not only active as a producer and publisher of maps and atlases, he also has a sound knowledge of astronomy, he was a student of Tycho Brahe, he also made a valuable contribution to navigation with his charts and handbooks and, last but not least, constructed amazing astronomical instruments. In addition to specialist maps, he also designed maps and atlases for which topographical precision was less important than the decorative effect enhanced by groups of figures, cartouches and heraldic accessories, and thus appealed to the taste of the public. With his son, Dr. Joan, he reached the zenith of the House of Blaeu. Cartouches and heraldic accessories have an increased decorative effect and thus meet the taste of the public. With his son, Dr. Joan, he reached the zenith of the House of Blaeu. Cartouches and heraldic accessories have an increased decorative effect and thus meet the taste of the public. With his son, Dr. Joan, he reached the zenith of the House of Blaeu.

Historical description
The Free and Hanseatic City is a city-state and a state of the Federal Republic of Germany. The official name goes back to Hamburg’s history as a free imperial city and as a leading member of the Hanseatic League of Commerce. The Hammaburg was built in the 8th century, in which Charlemagne had a baptistery built in 810 to proselytize the pagan north. In 831, Ludwig the Pious founded a diocese here, which shortly afterwards became an archbishopric. But shortly after the division of Verdun in 843, Vikings attacked the region, followed later by the Slavic Abodrites, and the archbishop moved his official residence to Bremen. Count Adolf III. von Schauenburg and Holstein founded a trading and market settlement on the west bank of the Alster in the 12th century. Through what is said to have been done by Emperor Friedrich I. Barbarossa granted port rights to this settlement[38] in 1189 and the trade privileges for the entire Lower Elbe, the city developed into a flourishing commercial center in the Middle Ages and, with its 600 breweries at times, was considered the “brewery of the Hanseatic League”. In the 14th century, as one of the first members of the Hanseatic League of Merchants, Hamburg developed into the most important German transhipment and storage center between the North and Baltic Seas. From 1510 Hamburg was finally considered an imperial city. In 1558 the Hamburg stock exchange was one of the first in Germany to open, and in 1678 the first German opera was opened on Gänsemarkt under the name Opern-Theatrum. Even after the decline of the Hanseatic League and during the Enlightenment and industrialization, the city remained the most important economic center in northern Germany alongside Berlin.



Please note there are a couple of tears around the edge as you can see in the photos I have provided

The map size is approximately 59cm x 45cm


Will be sent between cardboard to ensure safe delivery