A fine and superbly coloured example of one of the largest seventeenth century atlases.

In 1690, Amsterdam publisher Pieter [Pierre] Mortier had obtained from his French counterparts the privilege to distribute their maps and atlases in Holland, and he began re-engraving maps by the French Royal Geographer Alexis Hubert Jaillot (c1632-1712), the partner and successor of the "Father of French cartography", Nicolas Sanson (1600-67), who, in turn, had republished Sanson's maps from 1669. By 1681 Jaillot had enough material to publish 'L'Atlas Nouveau'.

With the "destruction of the Blaeu family business by fire in 1672, and the general lack of other competition, a ready market for a quality atlas had grown" (Burden). As this world atlas was passed down from Sanson to Jaillot, and from Jaillot to Mortier, it became ever more beautiful and illustrious, partly because of its augmented size, its creative embellishments, and its higher quality paper. Mortier's edition of the 'Atlas Nouveau' offers a comprehensive view of the world as known to Europeans in the late-seventeenth century.