Germaniae Veteris, Typus.

Antique map of Germany. Printed in Antwerp by Plantin Press in 1592.

Reference 12942

Description

Rare historical map of Germany and the central part of Europe during antiquity by Abraham Ortelius. With Germany, the Netherlands, Austria and parts of Switzerland, Poland and Hungary. In the south to Venice. With four cartouches.

This map only appeared in 3 editions of the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum between 1590 and 1592. According to Marcel van den Broecke, only around 700 copies were printed. For comparison: usually between 3000 and 7000 maps of a copper plate for the Theatrum were printed. From 1595 onwards, a new plate (Van den Broecke, M.: Ortelius Atlas Maps, No. 200) was used with the grade numbers inside of the frame. This example comes from the Latin edition of the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum from 1592. Latin text on verso.

Details

Cartographer	Abraham Ortelius
Title	Germaniae Veteris, Typus.
Publisher, Year	Plantin Press, Antwerp, 1592
Plate Size	36.2 x 45.7 cm (14.3 x 18.0 inches)
Sheet Size	44.7 x 56.2 cm (17.6 x 22.1 inches)
Reference	Van den Broecke, M.: Ortelius Atlas Maps, No. 199; Van der Krogt, P.: Koeman's Atlantes Neerlandici, 2000H:31A

Condition

Very good conditions.

Cartographer

Abraham Ortelius was born 1527 in Antwerp. He studied mathematics, Greek and Latin and travelled a lot across Europe. He established a business in dealing with books and drawing maps. His first remarkable map was a 8 sheet world map in the year 1564, but only three copies have survived. In 1570 he issued the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, the first modern Atlas with uniformly sized maps in a systematic collection. The term Atlas was not used until Mercator introduced it 20 years later. Most of the maps in Theatrum have been engraved by Frans Hogenberg. At the time of publication, the atlas was the most expensive book ever printed. Nevertheless it was a big success and around 7000 copies have been printed until 1612 in many editions and six different languages. Beside the Theatrum, Ortelius compiled a series of historical maps and published it in the Parergon Theatri which was bound with the Theatrum from 1579 onwards or published separately.

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Abraham Ortelius: Germaniae Veteris, Typus..

Antique map of Germany. Printed in Antwerp by Plantin Press in 1592.

Germany - Ortelius, Abraham - Germaniae Veteris, Typus.