ARTIST: Abraham Ortelius
MEDIUM: Copper plate engraving,
DATE: 1589.
EDITION SIZE: Image size 13 1/2 x 19 1/2" (34.4 x 49.5 cm) plus margins.
DESCRIPTION: A beautiful and rare chart of the Pacific Ocean; one of the most important maps published in Ortelius' seminal atlas. ‘Theatrum Orbis Terrarum’ is widely considered to be the first modern atlas; it formed the basis for cartography during many centuries after its production, and greatly influenced the design and production of later atlases. <br><br> This map is dated 1589 but did not appear until Ortelius issued "Additamentum IV" to his atlas in 1590. Ortelius’ 1589 cartography is based on Frans Hogenberg’s charts of America from that period, as well as Gerardus Mercator’s 1569 world map.<br><br> This was the first printed map ever devoted to the Pacific Ocean. The coastlines around the Pacific are particularly detailed with ports, islands, and inlets. The map includes many curious depictions of geographic features, such as a large and prominent New Guinea, a misshapen Japan with a strange Isla de Plata island appearing above it, a wide and nearly horizontal west coast of North America, and one of the earliest delineations of the Solomon Islands. A large, fictional Terra Australis landmass also appears at the bottom of the chart. Ferdinand Magellan's ship, "Victoria" – the first ship to circumnavigate the globe - is shown in the lower right off the coast of South America, emerging from the Strait of Magellan connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
ADDITIONAL INFO: Italian text edition.
CONDITION: Good condition and color save for tiny stitch hole in the centerfold.
REFERENCE: #74 in "The Mapping of North America" by Philip Burden; #12 in "Ortelius Atlas Maps - An Illustrated Guide" by Marcel Van den Broecke.
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