Behold the Largest Atlas in the World: The Six-Foot Tall Klencke Atlas from 1660

Last week, we fea­tured the free dig­i­tal edi­tion of the The His­to­ry of Car­tog­ra­phy. Or what’s been called “the most ambi­tious overview of map mak­ing ever under­tak­en.” The three-vol­ume series con­tains illus­tra­tions of count­less maps, pro­duced over hun­dreds of years. And it, of course, ref­er­ences this fine spec­i­men: A gift giv­en to Eng­land’s Charles II in 1660, The Klencke Atlas fea­tured state-of-the-art maps of the con­ti­nents and var­i­ous Euro­pean states. It was also notable for its size. Stand­ing six feet tall and six feet wide (when opened), the vol­ume remains 355 years lat­er the largest atlas in the world. Learn more about it with the BBC clip below.

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Relat­ed Con­tent:

The His­to­ry of Car­tog­ra­phy, the “Most Ambi­tious Overview of Map Mak­ing Ever,” Now Free Online

A Won­der­ful Sci­en­tif­ic Map of the Moon from 1679: Can You Spot the Secret Moon Maid­en?

Galileo’s Moon Draw­ings, the First Real­is­tic Depic­tions of the Moon in His­to­ry (1609–1610)

New York Pub­lic Library Puts 20,000 Hi-Res Maps Online & Makes Them Free to Down­load and Use