Born in Leyden, Pieter van der Aa (1659 – 1733) was a Dutch publisher, editor, bookseller, and geographer. As a publisher his output varied with his main interest in the production of maps and atlases.

At the age of nine, van der Aa was apprenticed to a local bookseller and by the time he was 21, he had started his first business. In 1692, van der Aa entered the Bookseller’s Guild. A few years later, he was appointed the official printer of the town of Leyden, as well as Leyden University.

In general, van der Aa did not produce his own maps, but he had a distinctive and elegant style, and his works were highly sought after by collectors. He produced a series of atlases and collections of voyages composed of plates acquired from other cartographers, which he would enhance with his sophisticated borders. His career culminated with the publishing of his illustrated atlas of the world, the Galerie Agreable du Monde, the largest book of prints ever published. The Galerie did not just cover geography, but also included over 3,000 plates of native peoples, architecture, and history from around the world, and was issued in an astonishing 66 parts.

Van der Aa died in Leyden in 1733. After his death, Covens & Mortier, another Dutch publishing firm, reissued van der Aa’s Nouvel Atlas.