| Method | Copper engraved with hand colour |
| Artist | Ortelius, Abraham |
| Published | Cum Imp. et Reg. privilegio decenn. 1579 [1602 printing] |
| Dimensions | 326 x 512 mm |
| Notes |
A regional map of northern France from the 1602 Spanish printing of Ortelius' 'Theatrum Orbis Terrarum'. Map details the historic Pircadie territory, since 2016 the new region of Hauts-de-France. Map shows Picardy from the sea to Abbeville, Amiens and Laon in the east. Towns, rivers and forestry included in great detail. Title and scale in elaborate strapwork cartouches, the title cartouche with grotesques and satyrs. With Spanish text to verso. Abraham Ortelius (1527 -1598) was a Flemish cartographer, cosmographer, geographer and publisher and a contemporary of Gerard Mercator, with whom he travelled through Italy and France. Although it is Mercator who first used the word "Atlas" as a name for a collection of maps, it is Ortelius who is remembered as the creator of the first modern atlas. 'Theatrum Orbis Terrarum' was the first systematically collated set of maps by different map makers in a uniform format. Three Latin editions as well as a Dutch, French and German edition of 'Theatrum Orbis Terrarum' were published by 1572 and a further 25 editions printed before Ortelius' death in 1598. Several more were subsequently printed until around 1612. Ortelius is said to have been the first person to pose the question of the continents once being a single land mass before separating into their current positions. Condition: Time toning. Slightly offset printing. Central vertical fold, as issued. |
| Framing | unmounted |
| Price | £300.00 |
| Stock ID | 45561 |