45. Charts. Jacob Aertsz Colom. 1662

Jacob Aertsz Colom's Chart atlas Oprechte vijerige Colom contains maps of stretches of coast all over Europe. The text and the large number of maps are aimed at people who were going on long sea voyages and therefore needed appropriate maps. The atlas is - as far as we know - the only existing copy. Apart from maps it contains information on astronomy, navigation instructions, views, tide tables etc.

Chart atlases were in frequent use and this copy reflects that it has been through many hands and is rather worn. The atlas has belonged to the historian and patron of literature, P.F. Suhm, whose large library was purchased by The Royal Library in 1796. This edition of the atlas is very rare. The cartographer C. Koeman writes in Atlantes Neerlandici, 1967, that this is the only copy that he knows of.

The chart atlas is bound in a contemporary parchment binding without any form of embellishment. The binding is a so-called oblong folio, where the width of the binding is larger than the height (32 x 27 cm).

The inserted copper-engraved maps are folded one or more times.