The publication of Joan Blaeu’s Atlas maior in Amsterdam in 1662 was a truly baroque affair. In attempting to synthesize all celestial, terrestrial and geographical knowledge, Blaeu created an atlas that in its first edition ran to 11 volumes, containing 4,608 pages and 594 maps. Over subsequent editions he printed over five million pages of text, creating the largest book of its time. The atlas’s world map shows two hemispheres overseen by Ptolemy (to the left) with his geocentric views and Copernicus (to the right) with his revolutionary heliocentric perspective. Blaeu drew much of his information from privileged access to Dutch East India Company archives, although perhaps unsurprisingly for such an expensive project, his geography was relatively unadventurous. What was new was his decision to endorse Copernicus’s arguments that the earth was part of a solar system that orbited the sun. The planets are shown in correct proximity to the sun, with the moon peeping out from above the two hemispheres.