Antonius Sanderus (Antwerpen, 1586 – Affligem, 1664)

Antoon Sanders (in Latin Antonius Sanderus) came from a distinguished Ghent family who, temporarily fleeing from the Ghent Republic, briefly stayed in Antwerp.
He started Latin studies in the Jesuit college of Oudenaarde and completed them in Ghent. Later he studied philosophy at the Jesuit College of Douai, where he became Master Artium in 1609.
In 1611 he was ordained a priest in Ghent. In the same year, he became the pastor of a few hamlets near Eeklo. Despite the Twelve Years' Truce, the situation in the region was unsafe for him, as he had written some controversial writings against, among other things, Anabaptism in Flanders.
In 1615 he became Baccalaureus in theology at the University of Leuven, and in 1619 he returned to Douai, where he obtained a degree in theology at the University of Douai.
In 1621 he returned to Ghent, where he enjoyed the protection of Bishop Antonius Triest, who in 1623 made him chaplain and secretary to Cardinal Alfonso de la Cueva, the governor of Philip IV of Spain in the Southern Netherlands.
In 1625 he became a canon of St. Martins' Church in Ypres.

In the meantime, he did research for a prestigious history work on the county of Flanders, the Flandria Illustrata. For those searches, he visited monasteries and castles to consult the archives, something that the other canons of Ypres were not so happy with because he was too little busy with his other duties.
That is why he resigned from his religious functions in 1654 and received the post of Censor Librorum in Brussels.
In 1668 he offered his resignation as a canon of the chapter of Ypres. Then, finally, he left the city to settle in the Affligem Abbey, where he was warmly received by the abbot Benedictus van Haeften.
He died there on January 16, 1664, and was buried in the abbey church.

Antonius Sanderus published historical works from 1610, but his magnum opus is the richly illustrated Flandria Illustrata, sive Descriptio Comitatus Istius per Totum Terrarum Orbis Terrarum. The publication was begun by Henricus Hondius, who had a publication contract with Sanderus as early as 1634. In 1641 Hondius printed the first volume in Leiden as Theatrum Flandriae but immediately sold the rights to Joan Blaeu. They published two volumes of the work in 1641 and 1644, respectively, with a fake publisher's address in Cologne. The work included numerous portraits, plans, views, and maps. Later, Blaeu used fifteen maps of the Flandria Illustrata for his Atlas Maior, and most of the plans were used in the town book of the Royal Netherlands.
In 1659 he published a history of Brabant abbeys and monasteries: the Chorographia sacra Brabantiae.

The Blaeus: Willem Janszoon, Cornelis & Joan

Willem Jansz. Blaeu and his son Joan Blaeu are the most widely known cartographic publishers of the seventeenth century.

Willem Jansz. (also written Guilielmus Janssonius) = Willem Janszoon Blaeu, was born in Uitgeest (Netherlands), near Alkmaar in 1571. He studied mathematics under Tycho Brahe and learned the theory and practice of astronomical observations and the art of instrument- and globe making.

In 1596 he came to Amsterdam where he settled down as a globe-, instrument- and map-maker. He published his first cartographic work (a globe) in 1599 and probably published his first printed map (a map of the Netherlands) in 1604. He specialized in maritime cartography and published the first edition of the pilot guide Het Licht der Zeevaert in 1608, and was appointed Hydrographer of the V.O.C. (United East India Company) in 1633. After thirty years of publishing books, wall maps, globes, charts and pilot guides, he brought out his first atlas, Atlas Appendix (1630). This was the beginning of the great tradition of atlas-making by the Blaeus.

In 1618 another mapmaker, bookseller and publisher, Johannes Janssonius established himself in Amsterdam next door to Blaeu's shop. It is no wonder that these two neighbours, who began accusing each other of copying and stealing their information, became fierce competitors who did not have a good word to say about each other. In about 1621 Willem Jansz. decided to put an end to the confusion between his name and his competitor's, and assumed his grandfather's sobriquet, 'blauwe Willem' ('blue Willem'), as the family name; thereafter he called himself Willem Jansz. Blaeu.

Willem Janszoon Blaeu died in 1638, leaving his prospering business to his sons, Cornelis and Joan. Of Cornelis we only know that his name occurs in the prefaces of books and atlases until c. 1645.

Joan Blaeu, born in Amsterdam, 1596, became partner in his father’s book trade and printing business. In 1638 he was appointed his father’s successor in the Hydrographic office of the V.O.C. His efforts culminated in the magnificent Atlas Major and the town-books of the Netherlands and of Italy – works unsurpassed in history and in modern times, which gave eternal fame to the name of the Blaeus.

On February 23, 1672, a fire ruined the business. One year later, Dr. Joan Blaeu died. The fire of 1672 and the passing away of the director gave rise to a complete sale of the stock of the Blaeu House. Five public auctions dispersed the remaining books, atlases, copperplates, globes, etc., among many other map dealers and publishers in Amsterdam. The majority was acquired by a number of booksellers acting in partnership.

In the succeeding years, the remaining printing department was left in the hands of the Blaeu family until 1695 when also the inventory of the printing house was sold at a public auction. That meant the end of the Blaeus as a printing house of world renown.