However, at the end of the 17th century, sea monsters start to disappear from maps. Sea Monsters on Medieval and Renaissance Maps, by Chet Van Duzer, and Sea Monsters: A Voyage around the World’s Most Beguiling Map, by Joseph Nigg, both focus exclusively on illustrations, several of which are included here, of such monsters on old maps. The sea monsters that populated European medieval and renaissance imaginations-fierce-toothed animals battling in the waves, long serpents wrapped around ships, torturously beautiful sirens and a wide assortment of chimeric beings-are the subject of two new books. So, what of the creatures that were thought to live there? Even the substance itself, seawater, is often cold and dark, and deadly to drink in quantity. And, why not? Unlike land, the ocean is constantly shifting and moving, with currents that could carry a ship off course and storms that threaten wrecks. The sea has been the stage for monstrosities and strange tales since antiquity. Antwerp, Plantin Press, 1598.(Van der Krogt 3, 31:351)Fictitious animals on 16th and early 17th century maps hint at how people’s perception of the ocean has changed over time References: Van der Krogt 3, 0600:31 Van den Broecke, #12 Karrow, 1/164 Burden #74 State 1 Campbell, Early Maps, p.26-27 pl.9 Suarez (Pacific), p.57-58, fig.58.įrom: Ortelius A. Size (not including margins): 34.5 x 50cm (13.5 x 19.5 inches) Item Number: 26529 Category: Antique maps > America > The Americas References: Van der Krogt 3 - 0600:31 Van den Broecke - #12 Karrow - 1/164 Over thirty editions of this Epitome were published in different languages. In 1577, engraver Philip Galle and poet-translator Pieter Heyns published the first pocket-sized edition of the Theatrum, the Epitome. The number of map sheets grew from 53 in 1570 to 167 in 1612 in the last edition. Editions had been published in Dutch, German, French, Spanish, English, and Italian. Some 24 editions appeared during Ortelius's lifetime and another ten after his death in 1598. Nothing was like it until Mercator's atlas appeared twenty-five years later. The importance of the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum for geographical knowledge in the last quarter of the sixteenth century is difficult to overemphasize. The Parergon can be called a truly original work of Ortelius, who drew the maps based on his research. Later editions included Additamenta (additions), resulting in Ortelius' historical atlas, the Parergon, mostly bound together with the atlas. This first edition contained seventy maps on fifty-three sheets. It was one of the most expensive books ever published. He completed the atlas in 1569, and in May of 1570, the Theatrum was available for sale. In 1568 the production of individual maps for his atlas Theatrum Orbis Terrarum was already in full swing. In 1565 he published a map of Egypt and a map of the Holy Land, a large map of Asia followed. The inspiration for this map may well have been Gastaldi's large world map. In 1564 he published his first map, a large and ambitious world wall map. In addition, he travelled a lot and visited Italy and France, made contacts everywhere with scholars and editors, and maintained an extensive correspondence with them. Luke as an "illuminator of maps." Besides colouring maps, Ortelius was a dealer in antiques, coins, maps, and books, with the book and map trade gradually becoming his primary occupation.īusiness went well because his means permitted him to start an extensive collection of medals, coins, antiques, and a library of many volumes. He learned Latin and studied Greek and mathematics.Ībraham and his sisters Anne and Elizabeth took up map colouring. The maker of the 'first atlas', the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum (1570), was born on 4 April 1527 into an old Antwerp family. It was first published in his Additamentum IV in 1590 and was then included in future editions of the Theatrum starting with the Latin of 1591." (Burden) Being one of Ortelius' most desirable maps combined with the fact that it was not issued in the atlas until 1590, it is not as available as the various versions of his map of America. It was engraved at a time of increasing activity in the Pacific with the English having recently begun raiding the Spanish galleons carrying the gold of Peru up the coast to the Isthmus, as well as those making the arduous journey across from the Philippines to Mexico. "One of the most important maps that appeared in the Ortelius atlases, this was the first printed map to be devoted to the Pacific Ocean, the discovery of which is remembered by the depiction, with legend, of Ferdinand Magellan's ship the Victoria.
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