Earlier this year, the British Library’s cartography department completed an ambitious project: they digitized the massive copperplate maps contained within the historic Klencke Atlas in an effort to make them more accessible to the world at large.

For over 350 years, the Klencke Atlas was considered to be the largest atlas in the world, measuring an impressive 5 feet 10 inches in height and 3 feet 10 inches in width. Requiring the strength of six men to even lift, the book was presented to King Charles II by a group of Dutch merchants upon his restoration to the English throne in 1660. The monarch then placed it in his “Cabinet of Curiosities,” which was presumably very large considering the fact that the atlas would’ve been taller than most people at this time! This sizable volume contains 41 copperplate maps and is named after Johannes Klencke, a major figure in the 17th-century Dutch sugar trade. In culmination, its pages provide an encyclopedic view of the then-known world.
In 2012, the Earth Platinum Atlas was published in Australia. Measuring 6 by 4-and-a-half feet, this atlas is bigger than the Klencke, and while it is beautiful, it is not necessarily better. After all, the Klencke Atlas is not just notable for its physical dimensions ? it’s also a living testament to over three centuries of history.

In 2010, the Klencke Atlas was opened publicly for the first time. The book was displayed alongside other cartographic feats as part o...