European cartographer, Joan Blaeu (1599 – 1673) elevated mapmaking to a lavish art form, helmed the 17th century’s largest printing press and was chief cartographer to the Dutch East India Company. Blaeu became Europe’s premier cartographer after the death of groundbreaking mapmaker Jodocus Hondius II by creating an exquisitely bound, colored and engraved world atlas, Theatrum Orbis Terrarum or Atlas Major, which contained more than 3,000 text pages, and approximately 600 maps. The most expensive 17th century book, it targeted a wealthy patronage primarily interested in using the volume for display. At its peak, Blaeu’s printing press created over 1 million impressions from 1,000 copper plates within only four years.

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