Antique Blaeu Map of the Principality of Orange and Avignon, 1642

About this sheet

The principality of Orange and the Comtat Venaissin, drawn by Jacques de Chieze of Orange and dedicated on the plate to Frederick Henry of Nassau, prince of Orange, count of Nassau, Catzenellenbogen, Vianden, Diets, Lingen, Moers and Buren. That dedication is the point of the sheet: Orange was a sovereign principality belonging to the Dutch house of Nassau, which is where the house of Orange takes its name and its colour, and a Dutch atlas of 1642 had every reason to map it carefully. Avignon, Carpentras, Cavaillon, Apt, Mont Ventoux and the Durance are named. For a Dutch or a British buyer this is the most historically resonant plate in the French section of the atlas, and it is priced accordingly.

The Blaeu house of Amsterdam was the greatest cartographic publisher of the Dutch golden age. Willem Jansz Blaeu began the atlas that his son Joan Blaeu carried to its full extent, and the Dutch text edition, Toonneel des Aerdriicx ofte Nieuwe Atlas, set a standard for engraving, paper and typography that no rival in Europe matched. The copper plates were cut with great delicacy, the title cartouches were designed as ornaments in their own right, and the sheets were printed on heavy laid paper that has survived three and a half centuries remarkably well.

Blaeu maps have been collected continuously since the seventeenth century and are the benchmark against which other Dutch cartography is measured, so a sheet from this atlas is a serious piece of the history of the book as well as a map. A large Blaeu plate is one of the few antique maps that can carry a wall on its own.

The sheet is in good condition for its age, with light toning and soiling to the margins and a small grey spot at the upper right; the centre fold is as issued and the image is clean.

This is an original antique map, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed. Any framed or interior images are shown for presentation and inspiration only, unless the listing explicitly states that the item is sold framed.