The ''Klencke Atlas'', first published in 1660, is one of the world's largest atlases."The World Actually Fits In The World's Largest Book"
Liane Hansen,

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

, January 31, 2010 Originating in

The Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, it is tall by wide when open,"Largest book in the world goes on show for the first time"
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', 26 January 2010 and so heavy the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...

needed six people to carry it.

Description

''Klencke Atlas'' is a singular work; no other copies were created. It is a

world atlas A world map is a map of most or all of the surface of Earth. World maps, because of their scale, must deal with the problem of projection. Maps rendered in two dimensions by necessity distort the display of the three-dimensional surface of the ...

made up of 41 copperplate wall maps that remain in exceptionally good condition. The maps were intended to be removed and displayed on the wall. The maps are of the continents and assorted European states and it was said to encompass all the geographical knowledge of the time.""Largest book in the world" to be displayed for the first time"
''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'', 28 January 2010 Dutch Prince

John Maurice of Nassau John Maurice of Nassau (Dutch: ''Johan Maurits van Nassau-Siegen''; German: ''Johann Moritz von Nassau-Siegen''; Portuguese: ''João Maurício de Nassau-Siegen''; 17 June 1604 – 20 December 1679), called "the Brazilian" for his fruitful period as ...

is credited with its creation, and it contains engravings by artists

Joan Blaeu Joan Blaeu (; 23 September 1596 – 21 December 1673) was a Dutch cartographer born in Alkmaar, the son of cartographer Willem Blaeu. Life In 1620, Blaeu became a doctor of law but he joined the work of his father. In 1635, they published ...

and

Hondius Hondius can refer to two possibly unrelated families of engravers and cartographers, who both moved from Flanders to the Dutch Republic in the 1590s: * Amsterdam family originating from Ghent: ** Jodocus Hondius (1563–1612) *** Jodocus Ho ...

and others. It was presented by a consortium of Dutch sugar merchants, represented by Professor Johannes Klencke,Peter Barber. ''The Map Book'', Bloomsbury Publishing USA, 2005
pg. 164
/ref> to

King Charles II of England Charles II (29 May 1630 – 6 February 1685) was King of Scotland from 1649 until 1651, and King of King of England, England, Scotland and King of Ireland, Ireland from the 1660 Restoration of the monarchy until his death in 1685. Charles II ...

in 1660 to mark the occasion of his

Restoration Restoration is the act of restoring something to its original state and may refer to: * Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage ** Audio restoration ** Film restoration ** Image restoration ** Textile restoration * Restoration ecology ...

to the throne. The consortium likely hoped to gain favourable trade agreements with Britain for slave trade and their sugar plantations. Johannes Klencke was the son of a Dutch merchant family, and an expert on

Hugo Grotius Hugo Grotius (; 10 April 1583 – 28 August 1645), also known as Huig de Groot () and Hugo de Groot (), was a Dutch humanist, diplomat, lawyer, theologian, jurist, poet and playwright. A teenage intellectual prodigy, he was born in Delft ...

. Charles, a map enthusiast, kept it in the 'Cabinet and Closset of rarities' in

Whitehall Whitehall is a road and area in the City of Westminster, Central London. The road forms the first part of the A roads in Zone 3 of the Great Britain numbering scheme, A3212 road from Trafalgar Square to Chelsea, London, Chelsea. It is the main ...

History

In 1828,

King George IV George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from the death of his father, King George III, on 29 January 1820, until his own death ten y ...

gave it to the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

as part of a larger gift of maps and atlases, the

King's Library The King's Library was one of the most important collections of books and pamphlets of the Age of Enlightenment.British LibraryGeorge III Collection: the King's Libraryaccessed 26 May 2010 Assembled by George III, this scholarly library of over ...

, collected by his father George III."And You Think Your Kids’ Books Are Heavy"
Vic Brand, ''Art Info'', January 28, 2010 In the 1950s it was re-bound and restored. Today it is held by the Antiquarian Mapping division of the

in London. Since 1998 it was displayed at the entrance lobby of the maps reading room. In April 2010 it was publicly displayed for the first time in 350 years with pages open, at an exhibition at the British Library.Magnificent Maps: Power, Propaganda and Art
exhibition at British Library, 30 Apr 2010 - Sun 19 Sep 2010 Until 2012 the ''Klencke Atlas'' was widely regarded as the world's largest atlas, a record it probably held since the atlas was created 350 years earlier. In February 2012, Australian publisher

Gordon Cheers James Gordon Cheers (born 1954) owned a wholesale carnivorous plant nursery in southeast Australia. He went on to publish ''Carnivorous Plants'' (1983) and ''A Guide to Carnivorous Plants of the World'' (1993). This was followed by ''Killer Pla ...

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 each. In 2017, the British Library digitized the atlas and made it available online. A video of the digitization process was also made available.

Notes

External links

Klencke Atlas
British Library digitized edition *(Picture
"Largest book in the world goes on show for the first time"
''

'', 26 January 2010
Magnificent Maps: Power, Propaganda and Art
exhibition at British Library, 30 Apr 2010 - Sun 19 Sep 2010 {{Authority control 1660 books Atlases British Library collections Cartography in the Dutch Republic