Includes Rare Map that Only Appeared in 1635-39 English Editions

"[Lot of 6] Helvetia [and] Zurichou [and] Das Wiflispurgergou [and] Lacus Lemanus [and] Argou [and] Rhaetia Karte vande Grisons ende Veltolina", Mercator/Hondius

This matching set of maps comes from the English edition of Mercator's Atlas Minor, which was published under the title Historia Mundi or Mercators Atlas by Michael Spark and Samuel Cartwright. Included are a map of the Switzerland and five regional maps, each adorned with decorative title cartouche and distance scale. English text on verso. Sizes vary slightly.

After acquiring the plates to the 1607 edition of the Mercator/Hondius Atlas Minor, Sparke republished the maps with text translated into English by Wye Saltonstall. Sparke also had 41 additional maps engraved for the Historia Mundi, including one of the maps in this lot, Rhaetia Karte vande Grisons ende Veltolina. Most of these maps were copied from Cloppenburg's edition of Atlas Minor and are therefore a bit larger, and some were signed by the engravers Jacob van Langren and Ralph Hall. The imprint of Van Langren is within the title cartouche. These additional maps only appeared in the 1635, 1637 and 1639 editions of the Historia Mundi and are therefore quite scarce.

References: Van der Krogt (Vol. III) #4900:351, 4910:351, 4920:351, 4985:351, 4930:351, & 4940:351 (Sparke).

Condition: A

Crisp impressions with light toning along the edges of the sheets. The map of Rhaetia, being of larger size, was trimmed just within the map image at right by the bookbinder, and has a few spots of foxing at bottom right.