Jodocus Hondius II (1593-1633).Appendix Atlantis Maioris. [Amsterdam:] 1630.?An important early proto-appendix atlas by Jodocus Hondius II, bound for Honoré d'Agut. “The fourth such assemblage, [and] the only one with a letterpress title-page. Of the 47 maps, 36 have J. Jondius imprints and 8 those of H. Hondius—dated 1628-9, including a map of Brabant not recorded by Koeman. The world map is the Dankerts-Tavernier of 1628 (Shirley 323) …it is surmised that the atlas was put together by Jodocus or his widow in mid-1629 for display at the Frankfurt book fair” (Imago Mundi).??The three other similar collections recorded by Koeman are held by the Maritime Museum Rotterdam (W.A Engelbrecht Collection); British Library, London (formerly J Keuning's copy described in Imago Mundi IV p.65); and the National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh. The map sheets were presumably assembled from Jodocus’s stock for a prototype Appendix to be displayed in the autumn of 1629 at the Frankfurt bookfair as a continuation of the great Mercator-Hondius atlas. On Jodocus's death on August 18, 1629, about 40 copperplates were sold to Blaeu, probably by Jodocus's widow. These plates had been part of Jodocus's plan to produce a new modern atlas, less dependent on the Mercator plates that his father had acquired in 1604.??In 1630 when Blaeu received the plates, he altered the imprint and immediately published them as part of his first atlas, the Atlantis Appendix of 1630, beginning the rise of the Blaeu family to supremacy in the Dutch map business. Henricus Hondius, Jodocus's brother, was so enraged that he immediately started collaboration with Johannes Janssonius and ordered 36 of these plates to be re-engraved (with minor variations), resulting in the H. Hondius and Janssonius Appendices of 1630 to 1633. Imago Mundi 46 (1994), p. 204. See also Ashley Baynton-Williams, "Jodocus Hondius Jr.'s Appendix Atlantis Maioris [1629/30] And Its Rivals," MapForum Issue 7, Autumn 2005.Folio (425 x 310mm). 47 double-page or folding engraved maps on various paper stocks, 5 folding, all on new guards (5mounted on cloth, 5 with margins or corners restored, 11 with strengthening and restoration to center-folds, 2 with slight loss; some maps with even browning).Rebound in modern morocco preserving contemporary French red morocco giltcovers and spine panels, with gilt arms of Honoré d'Agut. Modern box.