Klencke Atlas
The Klencke Atlas, first published in 1660, is one of the world's largest atlases. Originating in The Netherlands, it is 1.75 m tall by 1.9 m wide when open, and so heavy the British Library needed six people to carry it. • Illustration — Map of Germany from the Klencke Atlas The Atlas was created in the name of John Maurice of Nassau, but it was offered as a gift by Dutch merchants to the map enthusiast Charles II of England in 1660 in order to mark the occasion of the Stuart Restoration to the English throne. It was added to Charles' cabinet of curiosities in Whitehall Palace.
Klencke Atlas
N.N./British Library · Public domain
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The Klencke Atlas, first published in 1660, is one of the world's largest atlases. Originating in The Netherlands, it is 1.75 m tall by 1.9 m wide when open, and so heavy the British Library needed six people to carry it. • Illustration — Map of Germany from the Klencke Atlas The Atlas was created in the name of John Maurice of Nassau, but it was offered as a gift by Dutch merchants to the map enthusiast Charles II of England in 1660 in order to mark the occasion of the Stuart Restoration to the English throne. It was added to Charles' cabinet of curiosities in Whitehall Palace.
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History
History
In 1828, King George IV gave it to the British Museum as part of a larger gift of maps and atlases, the King's Library, collected by his father George III. In the 1950s it was re-bound and restored. Today it is held by the Antiquarian Mapping division of the British Library 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. 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 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.
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History of the object
The full dated record · 1 entries
1660
Klencke Atlas published.
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Description
In 1828, the Atlas was donated to the British Museum by George IV, along with the maps and atlases which were part of the collection of his deceased father George III.
Klencke Atlas is a singular work; no other copies were created. It is a world atlas 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. Dutch Prince John Maurice of Nassau is credited with its creation, and it contains engravings by artists Joan Blaeu and Hondius and others. It was presented by a consortium of Dutch sugar merchants, represented by Professor Johannes Klencke, to King Charles II of England in 1660 to mark the occasion of his Restoration 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. Charles, a map enthusiast, kept it in the 'Cabinet and Closset of rarities' in Whitehall.
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Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Hansen, Liane. The World Actually Fits In The World's Largest Book. Weekend Edition. 31 January 2010.
- 2.Brown, Mark. Largest book in the world goes on show for the first time. The Guardian. 26 January 2010.
- 3.'Largest book in the world' to be displayed for the first time. The Daily Telegraph. Relax News. 28 January 2010.
- 4.Walker & Co. The Map Book. 164. 2005. 9780802714749.
- 5.Miert, Dirk van. Humanism in an Age of Science: The Amsterdam Athenaeum in the Golden Age. BRILL. 68-70. 2009.
- 6.Harper, Tom. The Klencke Atlas. British Museum.
- 7.Brand, Vic. And You Think Your Kids' Books Are Heavy. Art Info. 28 January 2010.
- 8.King George III Topographical and Maritime collections. British Museum.
- 9.Magnificent Maps: Power, Propaganda And Art. The Guardian. 27 January 2010.
- 10.No other known atlas made such a claim.
- 11.Smith, Alan. Earth Platinum, the largest world atlas ever produced has been launched in Abu Dhabi. Global Mapping UK.
- 12.Kiwis leave their mark on world's biggest atlas. Idealog.
- 13.Daley, Jason. Massive Royal Atlas Gets Digitized. Smithsonian. 12 May 2017.
- 14.Meier, Allison. Watch the British Library Digitize One of the World's Largest Books. hyperallergic.com. 28 April 2017.
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The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
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