Philip Clüver was supposed to become a lawyer but was seduced by the appeal of classical studies and historical geography while at school. After his father cut him off, he was a soldier and a wanderer until he finally settled in Leiden, where he established himself as an academic geographer with the publication of Germaniae Antiguae Libri Tres (1616). Clüver approached cartography through the lens of history and classical studies, combining a humanist background with knowledge that he had developed over the course of his travels throughout Europe. His posthumous introduction to geography (Introductio in universam geographiam) remained an important pedagogical work for a century. Clüver published with the famous Dutch printing house Elzevir, who profited considerably by his insights but did nothing to help his family when Clüver died quite young.

This exhibit contains one map associated with Clüver:

• Summa Europae Antiquae Descriptio (1697)
  (A depiction of all of ancient Europe)