Blaeu's map of the Americas is a carte à figures — the map itself bordered above by views of the great cities of the New World, from Havana to Cusco to Mexico, and flanked by the peoples of two continents in their dress. Galleons and sea monsters churn through both oceans; California is still, correctly, a peninsula. It is the European imagination of the Americas at its most sumptuous and its most revealing, the finest continental map of the Golden Age. One quarter of a classic four-continent set.

Maker: Willem Blaeu
Date: c. 1617
Medium of the original: Plate
Original held by: Helmink Antique Maps
Credit: Helmink Antique Maps
Rights: Public domain, verified
Catalogue number: PA-00324

As chosen: 24 x 18 in, art print, classic frame
Picture	24 x 18 in
Outside size	25.6 x 19.6 in
Depth	0.9 in (22 mm)
Weight	[[REAL PROOF NEEDED: shipped weight per size and frame]]
Hanging	[[REAL PROOF NEEDED: hanging hardware Prodigi fits to this frame]]
Material	Enhanced matte art paper, 200 gsm; acrylic glazing
Made in	Charlotte, North Carolina, by Prodigi

Before a size goes on sale, the file is measured against it: pixels per inch at that size, how much of the picture a crop would lose, tone and sharpness. A size that fails is not offered, so there is nothing to choose wrong.

How the print check works

Sizes offered
Size	dpi	Grade	How it fits
10 x 8 in	621	Excellent	Trimmed 7.1%
14 x 11 in	451	Excellent	Trimmed 5.5%
16 x 12 in	414	Excellent	Trimmed 1%
20 x 16 in	310	Excellent	Trimmed 7.1%
24 x 18 in	276	Excellent	Trimmed 1%
30 x 24 in	207	Excellent	Trimmed 7.1%
40 x 30 in	165	Good	Trimmed 1%

Sizes withheld
Size	Why
12 x 8 in	Wrong shape: a 10% crop
18 x 12 in	Wrong shape: a 10% crop
24 x 16 in	Wrong shape: a 10% crop
30 x 20 in	Wrong shape: a 10% crop
36 x 24 in	Wrong shape: a 10% crop
48 x 36 in	138 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged
60 x 40 in	Wrong shape: a 10% crop