Blaeu Map of Africa, 1657

The story of this map

This is not the small atlas map of Africa most people have seen. It is Willem Blaeu’s big wall map of the continent, re-issued in Amsterdam by Nicolaes Visscher around 1657, and the Library of Congress copy is hand-coloured and nearly a metre and a half wide. Blaeu, the founder of the family firm, had made his name on maps like this, sheets meant to be pasted on linen and hung in a merchant’s hall.

It is what collectors call a carte-à-figures. Down each side stand pairs of figures in the dress of the peoples the Dutch traded with, and across the top run small views of the port cities of the African coast, Tangier, Ceuta, Algiers, Tunis, Alexandria and more. The map itself is dense with Latin names along the coasts, the Nile rising from its legendary lakes, and ships and sea creatures filling the Atlantic and the Indian Ocean. Panels of text in Latin, Dutch and French describe the continent for readers in three languages.

At 24 x 36 inches this is a piece that organises a whole wall, whether in a dining room, an office or a wide hallway. The colour is warm and the detail endless, so it also works close up, above a desk or sideboard.

It belongs to our Antique World Maps collection and pairs well with Joan Blaeu’s world map from the same house. Each print is made to order on archival matte paper and framed in the country of delivery.

Before and after

Left: the archive scan exactly as published. Right: the file that goes to the printer.

Archive scanRestored

Restoration notes

Restoration plan: the title strip was printed separately from the map, so align and blend it to the main sheet and match tone across the join. Crop scan margins, balance colour cast and levels while keeping the paper tone and hand colour, remove library stamps and scanner artefacts if present, gentle sharpening. No repainting of original content.

Every print carries its archive credit on the packing slip. Paper tone and small imperfections of the original are kept on purpose; nothing is redrawn.