Lot Details
Lot 88
ORTELIUS, ABRAHAM Typus Orbis Terrarum.
[Antwerp: circa 1575-1579]. Engraved map with hand-coloring signed "Franciscus Hogenbergus Sculpsit" at lower center, Latin text on verso. This is state 2 of Shirley's plate 1 with a trace of a crack in the plate at lower left corner and the cloud border reworked. Neatlines 13 1/4 x 19 1/2 inches (33.5 x 49.5 cm) with wider margins; matted and framed. The verso with some paper paste strengthening under the green colored areas and folds, small marginal pinhole at lower left and some light staining, all under the mat.
An attractive example of Ortelius' Typus Orbis Terrarum, "A simplified one-sheet reduction of Mercator's large world map" of 1569 (Shirley). This is an early issue with Hogenberg's imprint, printed in the period between 1574-79 when the plate developed a crack and the cloud border had to be reworked. Shirley reports examples of this printing included in Ortelius' Theatrum Orbis Terrarum through 1584 when a new plate was introduced (this considered the first modern atlas). Despite originating with Mercator, the map is presented in an oval projection rather than the cylindrical projection for which he is now famous. Features of the map include North America presented as much too wide; South America with an unusual bulge in the southwest; a comment adjacent to New Guinea questioning if the island is part of the landmass; a northwest passage under four large islands; and a large unknown southern continent "Terra Australis Nodum Cognita." The quote from Cicero along the bottom translates: "Who can consider human affairs to be great, when he comprehends the eternity and vastness of the entire world?" Shirley, The Mapping of the World, 122.
C
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