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The British Library in London
is home to a staggering
four and a half million maps.

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Mysterious and beautiful,
these rarely seen treasures

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are much more than just
two-dimensional physical
depictions of a physical world.

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Among its greatest treasures
are the world's very first atlases.

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Masterpieces of scientific endeavour
and artistic beauty,

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they are the spectacular
achievements of the Golden Age
of map-making in the Netherlands.

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The Dutch in this period were perhaps
the leading mercantile nation,

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in the world, and so I suppose maps
are a natural extension of that.

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The world had never seen printed
maps so lavish, so physically large,
so expensive.

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For a the super-rich merchants of
the Netherlands, the atlas became

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a unique opportunity for conspicuous
consumerism and personal display.

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A lot of the decoration of maps
is about showing wealth.

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You want to show that you can
afford to have a map like this,
you can have a gilded map.

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But at the same time it's
got entertainment value.

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The more beautiful it looks, the
more wonderful, the more spectacular,

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the more entertaining it is, the more
lovely it is to have in your home.

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There's an artistic value to them.

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Atlases revolutionised map-making

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and changed the way
we see the world.

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Beyond their physical beauty,
they were also celebrations of
an entire culture,

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objects of power and persuasion
in a world of commerce
and political intrigue.

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The Golden Age of the atlas
had its beginnings here,

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in the Flemish town of Antwerp
at the heart of the Netherlands.

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From the 1550s,
it became a boom town for commerce,
banking, map-making and publishing.

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It was home to The Golden Compasses,
the largest printworks
north of the Alps.

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From these miraculously preserved
printing presses 400 years ago,

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came the maps that started
the atlas revolution.

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The reason that map-making

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becomes so much part of Dutch life

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is really to do with a confluence
of factors. What you have

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is a moment at which
the Dutch themselves are very
much part of the overseas race.

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They're expanding into
the East Indies. They're
competing with the Portuguese.

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The want to understand those places
as traders and as politicians.

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They want to know about the places
they're expanding into.

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The boundaries of
geographical knowledge
were expanding as never before.

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And in the 100 or more printworks
in Antwerp,

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the most highly skilled printers
and engravers in northern Europe

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set about turning that knowledge
into maps.

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Here at the Golden Compasses,

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400-year-old copper plates
are still producing perfect prints.

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For map-makers, it was a time of
unprecedented opportunity.

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And one map-maker
would rise above them all.

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His contemporary Abraham Ortelius

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called him
"the best geographer of our time".

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His name was Gerard Mercator.

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This is an era of intellectuals.

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It's an era of men who are polymaths.

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They specialise in
all kinds of things.

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And Mercator is very much
one of those men.

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He wants not only to be able to
know about his own locality,

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but also to know about
the wider world.

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In the 16th century it's all about
understanding the universe

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as a product of a divine plan,

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and Mercator is very much
one of those men that feels

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through knowledge of the world
you can come to knowledge of God.

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To serve God, Mercator used science.

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A man from humble origins,
his father was a lowly cobbler.

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Mercator's intellectual ambition
was boundless.

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His ideas and his methods
transform map-making

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and the way we see the world,
forever.

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Using his scientifically rigorous
world view, Mercator's projection,

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he mapped the continents to
the same accurate scales
for the very first time.

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Then he gathered his maps together
in a single volume,

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and gave it a name
we still use every day.

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He called his book Atlas.

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London's British Library
is one of the world's great centres
of cartographic learning.

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It is also home to
a unique collection of

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Mercator's extraordinary maps, under
the care of curator Peter Barber.

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Mercator's Atlas is important because
it's the earliest attempt at

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a really scientific view
of the world, one that's based on

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deep thought,
on the valuation of information,

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and on the presentation of a coherent

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and integrated view
of the whole world.

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Geographer and Mercator biographer
Nick Crane

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has come to see the Library's
Mercator collection at first-hand.

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Do you think this was actually
coloured by Mercator? Oh, yeah.

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This, to me, is one of the most
exciting books ever published.

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It's the world's first atlas.

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The first bound book of maps
that carries the title Atlas.

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It was devised in
the late 16th century by Mercator,

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as the ultimate book
of the universe.

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It was a cosmography,
it was a book that he was
attempting to compile

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that would describe
absolutely everything
in the heavens and on Earth,

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in the whole cosmos -
it was a cosmography.

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I've never actually seen

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a Mercator map

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with his own handwriting on it.

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I've seen the prints.
I've seen copies.

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In the Atlas,
Mercator developed a new method
of looking at the world.

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A method that, 400 years later,
still seems incredibly modern.

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This is in ink.
It's not in pencil, it's ink.

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The beauty of Mercator's Atlas is
very much in the idea, the concept,

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and in that sense it's quite
invisible. It's invisible beauty.
It's a mathematical beauty.

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I can show you very simply
just one element of it,
which is the zooming element.

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You're very used to Google Earth,
just clicking a button

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and zooming in on a panel of
the Earth's surface.

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What Mercator does in the same way
is to produce five step changes
of scale through his atlas.

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For example,
you can move in from the world map,

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zoom in a bit further you've got
a map of the British Isles,

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and zoom in a bit further, you've
got a map of Northern Scotland.

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And move in a bit further, a map
of the tip of northern Scotland.

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So it had a very rigorous approach

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to presenting geographical
information in such a way
that it all made sense.

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You could effectively travel

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seamlessly, virtually
across the whole planet

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from the comfort of your own library
or scholarly studio.

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This was the era
of so-called armchair travel,

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when maps were bought as much for
entertainment as for navigation.

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And in his single-minded pursuit of
science, and accuracy, Mercator

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had omitted a crucial element
in map-making - art and beauty.

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If you read contemporary books
about maps, you don't actually

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get very many comments about how nice
it is to see exactly where Lisbon is.

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This sort of comments you get
is how fantastic it is

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when you're sitting by your fireside

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to see the different parts of the
world and the people who live there,

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and the birds that have been found
and the activities of the people
and to learn about the history.

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This was still the expectation,
and Mercator failed to satisfy that.

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And that might help to explain why
when his atlas was published,

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it didn't enjoy the great sales
that might have been expected

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from a work that was genuinely
so trail-blazing.

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The atlas, considered too plain
and austere for the time, sold badly.

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But when Mercator died,
a shrewd Dutch map publisher,

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Jodocus Hondius, bought
the copper plates of his maps.

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And with an eye to
a beauty-obsessed market,

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Hondius produced new lavish,
illustrated editions of the atlas.

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They became instant bestsellers.

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He had reinvented Mercator.

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Mercator a man about 500 years ahead
of his time,

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and he was a long way
ahead of his time.

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He produced a rigorous book of
mathematically constructed maps

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to a method that we use today.

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And to see these copper plates,

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to my mind desecrated with
cartoon characters around the edges,

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and gigantic ships, that was
a step back to medieval map-making.

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That's precisely the kind of
nonsense that Mercator

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had scraped from the surface of his
copper plates quite deliberately.

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He'd have been spinning in his
grave if he'd seen what Hondius
was doing,

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I'm absolutely certain.
He'd have hated it.

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What Mercator hated,
the buyers of atlases loved.

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Hondius' success showed that art
mattered just as much as science

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in the new world of the atlas.

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In Cecil Court,
London's largest concentration of
antiquarian map and print shops,

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buyers' tastes remain
remarkably unchanged today.

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From my experience as a map seller
in the 21st century,

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there's still a demand
for decorative maps.

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Given a choice between a map
which is scientifically accurate

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or shows something remarkable
for the first time,

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and a map perhaps like Blaeu's,

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which is remarkably luxurious
and decorative,

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there's always going to be a group of
people who are more interested

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in a decorative map,
and I can't blame them.

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Blaeu's map here is a wonderful
piece of 17th-century art.

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Joan Blaeu,
creator of the some of the most
ornate maps of the Dutch Golden Age,

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made his spectacular historical map
of Britain in the 1660s.

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It's called the Heptarchy, and shows
Britain as it was in Saxon times -

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a nation of seven separate
kingdoms,

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each king beautifully rendered
in the margins of the map.

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Perhaps to our eyes,
some of these images seem a little
naive or even inappropriate,

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but they're extraordinarily detailed.

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The attention, the care that's
been lavished on these, not just
the figures in the foreground,

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but the attention that's been
lavished on the background detail
as well.

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A quite extraordinary amount of work
has gone into this, very little of it

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directly connected
to the cartography.

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But I suppose in another sense,
all of it helping to understand
what the map is about.

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By the mid 1600s,
the world of map-making

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had moved
from Antwerp to Amsterdam.

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Here, the Dutch had thrown off the
yoke of Catholic Spanish occupation.

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Amsterdam was now liberal,
democratic, and rich.

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Its new wealthy merchant class
had cash to spare

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and an eye for prestige objects.

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The arts flourished with painters
like Rembrandt and Vermeer.

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The Dutch Golden Age was poised to
enter its most spectacular phase,

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and atlases and art
would be at the heart of it.

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Art in 17th-century Holland
was completely revolutionised.

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I mean, they got rid of the
dominance of the Catholic church.

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They'd proclaimed
their independence.

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It was almost like a new beginning.

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It was like saying, actually,
there's a whole new world out there.

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And we're going to look at it
as if for the very first time.

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This is a time when people
are looking for somewhere
to spend their money.

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They're stopping putting money
into churches,

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because that's a very Catholic thing
to do, to adorn churches.

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So they're looking for things to
spend their money on, and you see
that reflected in the Dutch art.

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It begins to become more ordinary
scenes, scenes of everyday life,

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scenes of mercantile activity,
of things people are familiar with.

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And atlases
are an ideal object for them
to start putting their money into.

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So while the rich of Italy and Spain
commissioned churches,

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the rich of Holland
commissioned atlases.

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And in the 1660s, the atlas itself

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became a tool of
commerce and politics.

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It is partly about display of wealth
and also technical superiority.

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If you bear in mind that something
like Blaeu's Atlas Major,

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we're talking about 600 maps
in 11 folio volumes,

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was used as a diplomatic gift -

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for example, a set
was given to Algiers.

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You have to imagine this book,
with its extraordinary broad margins,

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sometimes heightened in gold,

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and it's a symbol of Dutch
technical superiority.

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And I think that's one reason why
the Dutch were so interested in maps.

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The ultimate gesture in the
political world of Dutch map-making
was the Klencke Atlas.

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Made 350 years ago,
it's still ranked by

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the Guinness Book of Records
as the largest atlas in the world.

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And it's the jewel in the crown
of the British Library's
map collection.

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This atlas is something
that I've been aware of

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ever since I joined the British
Library, because of its sheer size.

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And having the responsibility for
it is actually quite awe-inspiring.

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I mean, it is quite something.

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I've been in the library
for 35 years.

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I've never had the opportunity
to open it in the way
that I'm opening it now.

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Created by Dutch sugar merchant
Johannes Klencke
as a gift for King Charles II

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on his Restoration in 1660,
its purpose was to buy royal favour.

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Well, the frontispiece is something
which was intended to impress.

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And perhaps the most important
thing about it is,

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if you look at the surroundings,
they're all gold.

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So it immediately establishes that
this is really something splendid,

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and this is further emphasised
by the wording of the dedication.

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"Soli Britannico Reduci
Carolo Secundo Regum Augustissimo."

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Translated, that means, "To the
British son restored to his kingdoms,
the most august Charles II."

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This is a golden book
meant for a returning son.

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Made up of 41 of
the finest Dutch wall maps,

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the Atlas was the ultimate political
sweetener

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that would encourage Britain,
Klencke hoped, to buy his sugar.

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00:18:30,960 --> 00:18:36,000
The King loved it, placing it in
his private cabinet of rarities,

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where the diarist John Evelyn saw
it, describing "a vast book of maps
in a volume near four yards long".

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The atlas is extremely precious.

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00:18:51,800 --> 00:18:55,200
It's one of the most important
things the British Library has.

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It's also, despite appearances,
one of the most fragile.

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To leaf through it like this,

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as carefully as one can,
is just a unique experience.

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In a sense, er...

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I shouldn't really say this,
but you almost become Charles II.
You become Evelyn.

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You're actually seeing the things
with their eyes, and, if you like,
with the real dimensions.

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This is sort of reliving the past,

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almost 100%.

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For Klencke personally, the map
delivered the hoped-for rewards.

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He received a knighthood from
a king deeply impressed

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with one of the most lavish gifts
of the age.

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The Atlas offered not just
the knowledge of the world
to a powerful monarch,

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but a dazzling display of
the greatest Dutch art of the day.

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When you think, for instance, that
the joins on this particular map

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were etched by Pieter Lastman, who
taught Rembrandt, it's just superb.

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00:20:29,240 --> 00:20:33,160
Look at this - I'm looking now
at a map of Germany surrounded by

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beautifully executed views
of the different towns of Germany,

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00:20:36,520 --> 00:20:43,120
and with tremendous decorative
features - the coats of arms,
the allegories all around.

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I'm actually not surprised
that Vermeer wanted to include
this sort of map in his paintings.

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00:20:49,360 --> 00:20:53,120
And this map
is in much better condition

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than the maps painted by him
in his paintings.

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One of the great masters
of the Golden Age,

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Vermeer was fascinated by maps,
using them in many paintings.

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For art historians, they are
not just background decoration,

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but a mark of how maps had become an
integral part of the Dutch psyche.

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I think maps appear in
so many of Vermeer's paintings
because he finds them ravishing.

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I think very often

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when you look at a Vermeer painting,
first off you think,

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"This is a domestic scene,
it couldn't be more quiet."

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00:21:43,440 --> 00:21:47,560
And then suddenly, it's almost
like a sort of shock, actually.

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You see that beyond the figures,
beyond the tables and the chairs

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and all the rest of it, there is
this image hanging on the wall,

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often quite large,
often very detailed,

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and it's an image of
the rest of the world, effectively.

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And you think to yourself,
actually Vermeer must be saying,

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"Although I'm concentrating
on these small little episodes
in tiny little places,

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00:22:20,120 --> 00:22:24,720
"I'm also aware, as are we all
in 17th-century Holland,

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"of this massive thing out there,
which is stretching all around us,

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"and which we are,
in fact, discovering."

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They went out there, they colonised,
they were great shippers.

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They would travel the oceans.

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They were very brave, actually.

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You can sense that in the maps
themselves, in the paintings,
this sense of wonder.

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It's almost like a miracle.

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Nowhere expresses the miracle
and wealth of the Golden Age

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like the Burgerzaal in Amsterdam.

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It's a monument to how maps
themselves had become central
to Dutch culture.

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From the giant hemispheres
in the marble floor,

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to the globes in the light fittings.

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00:23:25,160 --> 00:23:29,200
And towering above above it all
is the figure of Atlas,

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supporting
the world on his mighty shoulders.

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But the ultimate achievement of
Dutch Golden Age map-making
resides here at the British Library.

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An atlas that combines the
precision and ambition of Mercator,

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the beauty and art of Blaeu,
and the sheer scale of Klencke.

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00:24:05,280 --> 00:24:09,760
And here it is, emerging from
the British Library's basement

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on a convoy of trolleys,
a 24-volume atlas.

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00:24:15,080 --> 00:24:19,000
Like a hymn of praise to the
Golden Age that produced it,

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it covers just one country -
the Netherlands.

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00:24:28,920 --> 00:24:32,800
Named the Beudeker Collection,
after the super-wealthy merchant

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00:24:32,800 --> 00:24:37,240
who assembled it, even its bindings
are tooled in gold.

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00:24:41,800 --> 00:24:46,160
This priceless set of atlases
represents wealth and luxury

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00:24:46,160 --> 00:24:51,520
on a scale not seen before or since
in the history of maps.

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00:24:54,600 --> 00:24:59,200
Well, this whole atlas
dates from the end of the
Golden Age of Dutch map-making.

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And it's the fruit of
the development of maps

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in the Netherlands since about 1600.

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So the scale of the maps goes from
maps of the whole of the Netherlands,

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to plans of individual buildings
and even individual parts of gardens.

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00:25:30,480 --> 00:25:35,080
It covers the whole range
of human experience.

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00:25:35,080 --> 00:25:39,480
And it's produced by people who've
had generations of

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00:25:39,480 --> 00:25:42,840
experience and training
in map-making.

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00:25:42,840 --> 00:25:44,720
So this reflects itself in two ways.

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First of all, the quality of the
engraving is absolutely superlative.

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00:25:58,000 --> 00:26:01,440
Secondly, the quality of
the colouring is superb.

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00:26:01,440 --> 00:26:04,200
I don't think you'll find any atlas

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00:26:04,200 --> 00:26:08,520
which has better colouring
than these atlases here.

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00:26:16,440 --> 00:26:20,440
In the 17th century,
the Dutch map trade

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00:26:20,440 --> 00:26:22,920
became so dominant in the whole of
the world,

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00:26:22,920 --> 00:26:29,480
that it became possible for artists
to earn a living just colouring maps.

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00:26:29,480 --> 00:26:33,680
The results are amazing.

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00:26:33,680 --> 00:26:37,120
The colouring was developed
to a level of sophistication

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00:26:37,120 --> 00:26:41,520
that had never been seen before,
and really has never been seen since.

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00:26:49,560 --> 00:26:53,440
The maps not only reflect his pride
in the Netherlands,

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00:26:53,440 --> 00:26:56,960
they show not only
the towns and the provinces,

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00:26:56,960 --> 00:27:00,640
but also they depict
the famous people and their homes,

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00:27:00,640 --> 00:27:05,760
and they depict the homes
of these famous people
because Beudeker knew these people.

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00:27:05,760 --> 00:27:08,520
He knew the regents,
he was one of them.

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00:27:08,520 --> 00:27:12,720
So this is a collection
of maps of the Netherlands,

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00:27:12,720 --> 00:27:19,960
viewed not only from a standpoint of
almost near perfection in map-making,

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00:27:19,960 --> 00:27:23,920
but by a person who stood at
the pinnacle of society

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00:27:23,920 --> 00:27:29,000
and wanted to show just how splendid
the nation he lived in was.

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00:27:36,200 --> 00:27:40,920
From its beginnings,
rolling out maps on
the printing presses of Antwerp,

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00:27:40,920 --> 00:27:44,640
the atlas revolution of
the Golden Age of Mapping

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00:27:44,640 --> 00:27:49,560
brought cartography, art and
commerce together as never before.

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00:27:54,360 --> 00:27:57,560
It changed the way
the world looked forever,

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00:27:57,560 --> 00:28:03,240
and produced maps the like of which
the world may never see again.

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00:28:07,120 --> 00:28:11,400
To explore the new world of digital
mapping, and to find out more about

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00:28:11,400 --> 00:28:17,560
the British Library Map Exhibition,
go to bbc.co.uk/beautyofmaps

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Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

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00:28:31,360 --> 00:28:34,840
E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk