"Europa recens descripta", Blaeu, Willem

This is an uncommon variant of one of the most famous 17th century maps of the continent of Europe. The map covers all of Europe and extends to include Iceland and the mythical island of Frisland. The map first appeared with a carte-a-figures border. This example, without the decorative borders, is from a Dutch history book by Emmanuel van Meteren and printed by Blaeu. Even without the famous borders, this is a decorative map embellished with sailing ships, sea monsters, lions, bears and Neptune riding a dolphin and holding his trident.

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Condition: B+

This map is almost always found with narrow margins. There is paper restoration at left and at bottom, including expert facsimile of the left border and part of the neatline at bottom. This work was professionally and skillfully done so that it is only visible on very close inspection.