Catalog Archive
Auction 165, Lot 412

"Europae", Ortelius, Abraham

Subject: Europe

Period: 1572 (circa)

Publication: Theatrum Orbis Terrarum

Color: Hand Color

Size:
18.3 x 13.5 inches
46.5 x 34.3 cm
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This handsome map was based on Gerard Mercator's 1554 map of Europe and incorporates Magnus' information on Scandinavia and Jenkinson's map for Russia. The map extends to include Iceland and part of Greenland, and there is a tiny bit of Labrador intruding into the map at upper left. It also extends into western Asia and Northern Africa based on Gastaldi's cartography. Finely engraved with a stippled sea and modestly adorned with a sailing ship, compass rose, and a tent encampment in Russia. The personification of Europa being abducted by Zeus in the form a bull graces the title cartouche. This is Ortelius' first map of Europe, which was replaced in 1584 with a new copper plate. German text on verso, published in 1572-73.

References: Van den Broecke #4.

Condition: B+

Watermarked paper with extraneous folds adjacent to the centerfold that have been pressed flat, with professional repairs to several separations along these folds, as well as to a tear that enters less than 1/2" into image at top.

Estimate: $950 - $1,200

Sold for: $900

Closed on 11/15/2017

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