Willem Janszoon Blaeu, 1571-1638

The study traces the life and career of a prominent Dutch cartographer and globe maker born in 1571, recounting limited details of his youth, his formative apprenticeship at Tycho Brahe’s Uranienburg where he learned instrument-making and astronomy, and his return to Amsterdam to establish a press and workshop for maps, globes, and mathematical instruments. It analyzes his techniques and influences from earlier mapmakers, examines the design and significance of his large 1605 world map with facsimile reproductions, and provides illustrations, a bibliography, and a catalog of principal geographical publications to document his output and the development of his cartographic enterprise.