Klencke Atlas

The Klencke Atlas, first published in 1660, is one of the world's largest atlases.[1] Originating in The Netherlands, it is 1.75 metres (5 ft 9 in) tall by 1.9 metres (6 ft 3 in) wide when open,[2] and so heavy the British Library needed six people to carry it.[1]

Map of Germany from the Klencke Atlas

Description

Klencke Atlas is a singular work; no other copies were created. It is a world atlas made up of 41 copperplate wall maps that remain in exceptionally good condition.[3] The maps were intended to be removed and displayed on the wall.[1] The maps are of the continents and assorted European states[4] and it was said to encompass all the geographical knowledge of the time.[5] Dutch Prince John Maurice of Nassau is credited with its creation,[5] and it contains engravings by artists Blaeu and Hondius and others.[4]

It was presented by a consortium of Dutch sugar merchants, represented by Professor Johannes Klencke,[6][7] to King Charles II of England in 1660 to mark the occasion of his Restoration to the throne.[1] The consortium hoped to gain favourable trade agreements with Britain for their sugar plantations in Brazil.[3] Johannes Klencke was the son of a Dutch merchant family. Charles, a map enthusiast, kept it in the 'Cabinet and Closset of rarities' in Whitehall.[6]

History

In 1828, King George IV gave it to the British Museum as part of a larger gift of maps and atlases, the King's Library, collected by his father George III.[4][8] In the 1950s it was re-bound and restored.[4] Today it is held by the Antiquarian Mapping division of the British Library in London.[1] Since 1998 it was displayed at the entrance lobby of the maps reading room.[6] In April 2010 it was publicly displayed for the first time in 350 years with pages open,[2] at an exhibition at the British Library.[1][9]

Until 2012 the Klencke Atlas was widely regarded as the world's largest atlas,[2] a record it probably held since the atlas was created 350 years earlier.[10] In February 2012, Australian publisher Gordon Cheers published a new atlas called Earth Platinum that is bigger by about a foot making it probably the largest atlas in the world; 31 copies were made priced at US$100,000 each.[11][12]

In 2017, the British Museum digitized the atlas and made it available online.[13] A video of the digitization process was also made available.[14]

Notes
  1. "The World Actually Fits In The World's Largest Book", Liane Hansen, NPR, January 31, 2010
  2. "Largest book in the world goes on show for the first time", The Guardian, 26 January 2010
  3. Tom Harper. "The Klencke Atlas". British Museum. Retrieved May 13, 2017.
  4. "And You Think Your Kids’ Books Are Heavy", Vic Brand, Art Info, January 28, 2010
  5. ""Largest book in the world" to be displayed for the first time", The Daily Telegraph, 28 January 2010
  6. Peter Barber. The Map Book, Bloomsbury Publishing USA, 2005. pg. 164
  7. Dirk van Miert. Humanism in an Age of Science: The Amsterdam Athenaeum in the Golden Age, BRILL, 2009. pg. 68-70
  8. "King George III Topographical and Maritime collections". British Museum. Retrieved 13 May 2017.
  9. Magnificent Maps: Power, Propaganda and Art, exhibition at British Library, 30 Apr 2010 - Sun 19 Sep 2010
  10. No other known atlas made such a claim.
  12. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-07-16. Retrieved 2012-05-21.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  13. Jason Daley (12 May 2017). "Massive Royal Atlas Gets Digitized". Smithsonian.com. Retrieved 13 May 2017.
  14. Allison Meier (28 April 2017). "Watch the British Library Digitize One of the World's Largest Books". hyperallergic.com. Retrieved 13 May 2017.
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