Lot number 3802 - Auction 150
'ATLAS MAIOR'

FREDERIK DE WIT 1610 - 1698 'ATLAS MAIOR' Amsterdam, circa 1710 1 volume, pigskin binding with ornamental embossing, hand-colored, engraved title, index, 130 hand-colored maps. 56 x 37 x 9 cm. Title page inscribed 'Lauwerens Scherm. delin. & sculp.' lower right. Partly stained and browned, creases, partially slightly damaged, binding slightly damaged. A magnificent, rare atlas encompassing the entire world, including maps of Asia, Africa, and America. Frederik de Wit's Atlas Maior had a fluctuating composition and is therefore difficult to define bibliographically. Printed tables of contents serve as a guide. The shortest index lists seventeen maps, the longest 160. In 1648, Frederik de Wit founded his publishing house in Amsterdam, which was subsequently taken over by his son and later his grandson. De Wit and Visscher were the leading map and atlas publishers in the Netherlands after a fire destroyed the Blaeu firm in 1672. From around 1670, he published the first world atlases. De Wit is particularly known for the outstanding pictorial decorations on his maps.