Some collectors of Blaeu's atlases did not settle for the standard edition supplied by the cartographer. The wealthy citizen of Amsterdam Frederik Willem van Loon (1644-1708) was one of them.

Van Loon held high office at the exchange bank and was a member of the town council (the 'city fathers'). The atlases in his collection were executed in the most sumptuous way possible. They are bound in red morocco with the family coat of arms and the owners' motto stamped in gold. All the maps in the atlas are very skilfully and beautifully coloured in by hand and heightened with gold. The bindings were manufactured by the famous bookbinder from Amsterdam, Albert Magnus (1642-1689).

Van Loon wanted more than just the Grooten Atlas. He added a number of other atlases, such as Blaeu's town books of the Netherlands and Italy, extra volumes about France and Switzerland, and two maritime atlases made by other cartographers.

All volumes were bound in the same magnificent bindings and the maps were coloured in in the same way. The series of atlases was kept in an olive wood cabinet.