It is estimated that 1,550 copies of all five editions were printed, which leads to an estimation that 5.4 million pages of text were printed, and 950,000 copper plate impressions. Such a vast undertaking in capital and labour was reflected in the price of the work, with the French edition the most expensive at 450 guilders. The French ‘Grand 

’ was the largest of the five editions, with the volume concerning France divided into two books to make a total of twelve volumes. The atlas was the most expensive book of its day; the average price of a house in Amsterdam at the time of publication was 500 guilders.

Volume I

Volume II

Volume III

Volume IV

Volume V

Volume VI

Volume VII

Volume VIII

Volume IX

Volume X

Volume XI

Volume XII

The double hemisphere map of the world was newly prepared for the atlas by 

 himself, perhaps the first world map in an atlas to portray the Copernican solar system. Of note is the eleventh volume, with twenty-eight maps devoted to China and the Far East, compiled by the Italian Jesuit Martino Martini (1614–1661), the first atlas of China produced in the western world.

Volume I: World map, Europe and Scandinavia, sixty-one maps and plates, including views of 

’s observatory; Volume II: Northern and Eastern Europe, thirty-nine maps and plates; Volume III: Germany, ninety-six maps (three folding); Volume IV: The Low Countries, sixty-three maps; Volume V: England and Wales, fifty-eight maps; Volume VI: Scotland and Ireland, fifty-five maps; Volume VII: France, thirty-seven maps; Volume VIII: France and Switzerland, thirty-six maps; Volume IX: Italy, sixty maps; Volume X: Part 1, Spain and Portugal; Part 2. Africa, forty-one (twenty-eight maps and thirteen plates (including three folding); Volume XI: Asia, twenty-eight maps devoted to China and the Far East; Volume XII: America, twenty-three maps of the 

 Maior’ in its various editions was one of the most influential atlases ever published. It was justly famed for its production values, its high typographic standard, and the quality of its engraving, ornamentation, binding, and colouring. The atlas frequently served as the official gift of the Dutch Republic to princes and other authorities. It is one of the most lavish and highly prized of all seventeenth-century illustrated books. In its sheer size and scale, it surpassed all other atlases then in circulation, including the efforts of his great predecessors 

.

In this work, Blaeu was able to synthesize the world of the Dutch Golden Age in a single publication, an endeavour unparalleled for centuries. In 1630 he published, with his father 

 Appendix’. Over the next thirty years, publishing rivalries with Henricus Hondius and 

 would spur the production of ever larger and more lavish editions. Over the coming decades, the atlas was published simultaneously in five different languages: Latin, French, Dutch, Spanish, and German. Of these, the French ‘Grand 

’ was the largest of the five editions, with the volume concerning France divided into two books to make a total of twelve volumes.

The Blaeu family is synonymous with the finest mapmaking of the Golden Age of Dutch. Following 

 announced in 1662 that he would auction his bookselling business. The creation of the five editions took six years, from 1659 to 1665. 

An exceptionally splendid and attractive example of 'the greatest and finest atlas ever published' (Verwey). The ‘

 Maior’ in its various editions was the one of the largest atlases ever published. It was justly famed for its production values, its high typographic standard, and the quality of its engraving, ornamentation, binding, and colouring. The atlas frequently served as the official gift of the Dutch Republic to princes and other authorities. It is one of the most lavish and highly prized of all 17th-century illustrated books. “In its sheer size and scale it surpassed all other atlases then in circulation, including the efforts of his great predecessors Ortelius and Mercator” (Brotton).

Of particular note is the double hemisphere map of the world, newly prepared for the atlas by 

 himself. Jerry Brotton suggests that this is the first world map in an atlas to portray the Copernican solar system.

Superb publisher’s Dutch gilt-panelled vellum, each cover decorated with gilt stylised foliate roll-tool panels, arabesques at each outer corner and surrounding a large central arabesque medallion, the smooth spines gilt ruled in eight compartments each decorated with fleur-de-lys corner pieces around a central rose tool, yapp fore-edges, original green silk ties.   

Blaeu's 'Atlas Major'