Typus Orbis Terrarum
| Reference: | S48046 |
| Author | Abraham ORTELIUS |
| Year: | 1570 ca. |
| Zone: | The World |
| Printed: | Antwerpen |
| Measures: | 495 x 340 mm |
€8,500.00
| Reference: | S48046 |
| Author | Abraham ORTELIUS |
| Year: | 1570 ca. |
| Zone: | The World |
| Printed: | Antwerpen |
| Measures: | 495 x 340 mm |
€8,500.00
Description
Title at top, within long decorated cartouche TYPVS ORBIS TERRARVM. Lower cartouche reads: QVID EI POTEST VIDERI MAGNVM IN REBVS HVVMANIS, CVI AETERNITAS | OMNIS, TOTIVSQVE MVNDI NOTA SIT MAGNITVDO. CICERO. Bottom editorial data and engraver's signature: Cum priuilegio Franciscus Hogenbergus sculpsit.
Magnificent example with contemporary coloring of one of the most famous maps of the world ever published. Included in the first modern atlas, Abraham Ortelius's Theatrum Orbis Terrarum.
"As the first world map occurring in the first regular atlas, this map is of fundamental importance in the history of cartography". (M. van den Broeke).
The map, engraved by Frans Hogenberg, is the first of three versions of the world map that Ortelius would include in his atlas from 1570 to 1584. Beginning in 1587, due to probable wear and tear of the copper plate, a new world map will be made, but it will soon be replaced by the third version, printed until 1612.
Example in the fourth state of six described by Van den Broecke ("the crack is somewhat mended and less visible. Some reworking of the clouds", from the 1579 Latin edition.
The beautiful world in oval projection is surrounded by clouds. At the bottom is a citation from Cicero, in translation: “What human affairs can seem important to a man who has all eternity before his eyes and knows the vastness of the universe?”.
Geographically, the map is mainly based on Mercator's large map of the world, which was published a year earlier in 1569 and is only preserved in three copies. Ortelius also used the 1561 world map of Giacomo Gastaldi and Diego Gutierrez' portolan chart of the Atlantic (Meurer p. 35, Karrow 56/17, 37/1 p. 389-392, 285-287). Next to the list at the bottom of the text, Ortelius mentions in his Catalogus Auctorum the world maps by Peter ab Aggere from Mechelen, Sebastian Cabotus from Venice, Laurentius Fries from Antwerp, Jacobus Gastaldi, Gemma Frisius from Antwerp, Guicciardinus from Antwerp, Doco ab Hemminga Frisius, and Orontius Finæus from Paris.
Ortelius roughly adopted the American continent from Mercator. South America retains the unusual bulged southwest coast, which is no longer present in the later edition of 1589. The cartography of North America is largely speculative apart from the colonial centres in the Caribbean and central Mexico. The Atlantic coast extends too far east, the discoveries of Giovanni de Verrazzano and Jacques Cartier, such as the St Lawrence River are already depicted. The Chesapeake Bay is still undiscovered, the Mississippi River is not yet drawn despite its discovery in 1540, and the Great Lakes are also missing. The discoveries of the Spanish conquistador Francisco Vásquez de Coronado from 1540-42 in the western USA, such as the mouth of the Colorado River, are depicted. Quivira in the far northwest refers to the fabled gold country of Quivira, which Coronado sought as far west as Kansas in North America in 1541.
The southern tip of South America is separated from Tierra del Fuego by the Strait of Magellan, discovered in 1520, which is still part of the huge fictitious southern continent Terra Australis Nondum Cognita. The hypothetical southern continent was already supposed in ancient times. It was believed that all seas were surrounded by land, like the Mediterranean. It was not until Francis Drake's circumnavigation of the world in 1577-80 that he realised that the Strait of Magellan was not a channel between two continents and that south of Cape Horn there was only the open sea.
Several mythical islands are marked in the Atlantic, mostly based on questionable reports by little-known seafarers: Brasil, Frisland, Verde, S. Bradain and Drogeo. Legendary is the phantom island Sept Citiz in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, better known as Antilia. It was said the island has been settled by a Christian community fleeing the Moors in the 8th century, leaving the Iberian Peninsula by ship. The island of Saint Brendan in the northeast of South America, marked as Y. de S. Bo., was also considered a fact among scholars at the time this map was created. It was named after the Irish monk Saint Brendan, who supposedly undertook a legendary sea voyage in the 6th century and discovered this island.
Japan is still incorrectly shown as a large round island, Korea is not present. The Southeast Asian islands are already well depicted for the time. The legendary names Lucach, Beach (Land of Gold) and Maletur (Kingdom of the Malays) in the great southern continent Terrae Australis go back to Marco Polo.
A good example.
Bibliografia
Van den Broecke "Ortelius Atlas Maps" (2011), n. 1.4; Shirley, The Mapping of the World (1993) map 122; Shirley (1998) The World Maps in the "Theatrum", p. 171-184, in Van den Broecke, van der Krogt and Meurer (eds.) "Abraham Ortelius and the First Atlas", HES Publishers, 1998; Lucia Nuti (2003) The World Map as an Emblem: Abraham Ortelius and the Stoic Contemplation, Imago Mundi 55: 38-55.
Abraham ORTELIUS (1528 - 1598)
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Abraham Ortel, better known as Ortelius, was born in Antwerp and after studying Greek, Latin and mathematics set up his business there with his sister, as a book dealer and 'painter of maps'. Travelling widely, especially to the great book fairs, his business prospered and he established contacts with many sultured men in many lands. On one such visit to England, possibly seeking temporary refuge from religious persecution, he met William Camden whom he is said to have encouraged in the production of the Britannia.
A turning-point in his career was reached in 1564 with the publication of a World Map in eight sheets of which only one copy is known: other individual maps followed and then - at the suggestion of a friend - he gathered together a collection of maps from contacts among European cartographers and had them engraved in uniform size and issued in 1570 as the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum (Atlas of the Whole World). Although Lafreri and others in Italy had published collections of 'modern' maps in book form in earlier years, the Theatrum was the first uniformly sized, systematic collection of maps and hence can be called the first atlas, although that term itself was not used until twenty years later by Mercator.
The Theatrum, with most of its maps elegantly engraved by Frans Hogenberg, was an instant success and appeared in numerous editions in different languages including addenda issued from time to time incorporating the latest contemporary knowledge and discoveries. The final edition appeared in 1612. Unlike many of his contemporaries Ortelius noted his sources of information and in the first edition acknowledgement was made to eighty-seven different cartographers.
Apart from the modern maps in his major atlas, Ortelius himself compiled a series of historical maps known as the Parergon Theatri which appeared from 1579 onwards, sometimes as a separate publication and sometimes incorporated in the Theatrum.
1570 Theatrum Orbis Terrarum 1570-1612 Between these years the Theatrum was re-issued in 42 editions with 5 supplements with text in Latin, Dutch, German, French, Spanish, Italian and English. The English edition was published in 1606 by John Norton, the maps being printed in Antwerp and the text added in London. Three years later Ortelius died in 1598, his heirs transferred publication rights to Jan Baptiste Vrients who produced the posthumous editions until he died in 1612
1577-85 Spiegel der Werelt (8vo) Maps from the Theatrum, reduced in size, engraved by Philip Galle: text by Pieter Heyns. 6 editions with Dutch, French and Latin text. 1588-i 603 Epitome theatri orbis terrarum (12mo/8v0) 11 further editions of the smaller maps with an increasing number of maps with text also in Italian and English (1603). i6oi-i 2 7 further editions with improved engravings by Arsenius Brothers: text by Michel Coignet in Latin, French, German, Italian and English (1603). 1598-1724 Theatro del Mondo (4t0/12mo/24mo) 8 editions with Italian text; plates engraved in Italy.
1579-1606 Parergon Theatri The number of maps included in the Parergon increased from 4 in 1579 to 43 in 1606 with text in Latin, French, Italian, German and English (1606) 1624 Re-issued in Antwerp as a separate publication by Balthasar Moretus. This edition included a reproduction of the Peutinger table.
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Abraham ORTELIUS (1528 - 1598)
|
Abraham Ortel, better known as Ortelius, was born in Antwerp and after studying Greek, Latin and mathematics set up his business there with his sister, as a book dealer and 'painter of maps'. Travelling widely, especially to the great book fairs, his business prospered and he established contacts with many sultured men in many lands. On one such visit to England, possibly seeking temporary refuge from religious persecution, he met William Camden whom he is said to have encouraged in the production of the Britannia.
A turning-point in his career was reached in 1564 with the publication of a World Map in eight sheets of which only one copy is known: other individual maps followed and then - at the suggestion of a friend - he gathered together a collection of maps from contacts among European cartographers and had them engraved in uniform size and issued in 1570 as the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum (Atlas of the Whole World). Although Lafreri and others in Italy had published collections of 'modern' maps in book form in earlier years, the Theatrum was the first uniformly sized, systematic collection of maps and hence can be called the first atlas, although that term itself was not used until twenty years later by Mercator.
The Theatrum, with most of its maps elegantly engraved by Frans Hogenberg, was an instant success and appeared in numerous editions in different languages including addenda issued from time to time incorporating the latest contemporary knowledge and discoveries. The final edition appeared in 1612. Unlike many of his contemporaries Ortelius noted his sources of information and in the first edition acknowledgement was made to eighty-seven different cartographers.
Apart from the modern maps in his major atlas, Ortelius himself compiled a series of historical maps known as the Parergon Theatri which appeared from 1579 onwards, sometimes as a separate publication and sometimes incorporated in the Theatrum.
1570 Theatrum Orbis Terrarum 1570-1612 Between these years the Theatrum was re-issued in 42 editions with 5 supplements with text in Latin, Dutch, German, French, Spanish, Italian and English. The English edition was published in 1606 by John Norton, the maps being printed in Antwerp and the text added in London. Three years later Ortelius died in 1598, his heirs transferred publication rights to Jan Baptiste Vrients who produced the posthumous editions until he died in 1612
1577-85 Spiegel der Werelt (8vo) Maps from the Theatrum, reduced in size, engraved by Philip Galle: text by Pieter Heyns. 6 editions with Dutch, French and Latin text. 1588-i 603 Epitome theatri orbis terrarum (12mo/8v0) 11 further editions of the smaller maps with an increasing number of maps with text also in Italian and English (1603). i6oi-i 2 7 further editions with improved engravings by Arsenius Brothers: text by Michel Coignet in Latin, French, German, Italian and English (1603). 1598-1724 Theatro del Mondo (4t0/12mo/24mo) 8 editions with Italian text; plates engraved in Italy.
1579-1606 Parergon Theatri The number of maps included in the Parergon increased from 4 in 1579 to 43 in 1606 with text in Latin, French, Italian, German and English (1606) 1624 Re-issued in Antwerp as a separate publication by Balthasar Moretus. This edition included a reproduction of the Peutinger table.
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