Map of Poland and Silesia by J. Blaeu and W.J. Blaeu

Map of Poland and Silesia entitled "Polonia Regnum, et Silesia Ducatus" [1647]. The map of Poland and Silesia was compiled and published by the famous Blaeu family cartographic printing house in Amsterdam. It comes from the Dutch version of the atlas by J. Blaeu and W.J. Blaeu: “Toonneel des Aerdriicx...'”, volume 1. The Dutch cartographers created it based on Gerard Mercator’s 1585 Polonia et Silesia map, consolidating the earlier cartographic image of the presented territories. The copy held by the Ossolineum is part of the collection of Jan Nowak-Jeziorański, one of the major donors to the Institute. It is a loose-leaf map, dimensions 41×51 cm. Scale ca. 1:1 590 000. At the top left of the map is a title cartouche, to its left and right are two personifications of the harvest – a woman with a horn of plenty and a sheaf of grain. In the upper right corner are two putti with a ribbon, between them a coat of arms with a crowned eagle, topped with a closed crown. In the lower right corner is an inscription: “Guiljelmus Blaeu excudit”. In the lower left corner are a linear scale on a low pedestal and two putti with compasses and a globe, above them is the Silesian coat of arms with an eagle, above the escutcheon is an open crown.