The Library of Roger Wagner - PBA Galleries

MAGNIFICENT COPY OF ORTELIUS’ FAMED ATLAS, 1584,
WITH 112 HAND-COLORED MAPS
44. orTelius, ABrAhAm. Theatrum Orbis Terrarum [with] Parergon, in quo Veteris Geographiæ aliquot tabulæ
[and] Nomenclator Ptolemaicus; Ominis Locorum Vocabula Quæ in tota Ptolemæi Geographia occurrunt.... Handcolored
engraved title-page, 20 pp. of preliminary text (with hand-colored initials & tailpieces), handcolored
copper-engraved portrait of Ortelius. With 100 double-page hand-colored copper-engraved
maps in the Theatrum, & 12 double-page hand-colored copper-engraved maps in the Parergon, for
a total of 112 maps. The Parergon & the Nomenclator Ptolemaicus with hand-colored decorations
on the title-pages to those parts. (Folio) 17¾x11¼, 18th century full mottled sheep, spine elaborately
tooled in gilt, raised bands, morocco lettering piece, marbled pastdowns.
Antwerp: Christopher Plantin, 1584
Magnificent copy of the enlarged 1584 edition of Ortelius’ famed atlas, one of the major
milestones in the history of cartography. First produced in 1570, the Theatrum is noted in
Printing and the Mind of Man (91) as “a landmark in cartographic publication, for it is the first
large modern atlas.” The 1570 edition comprised only 53 maps, with Additamenta of additional
maps added in 1573, 1579, 1584, 1590 and 1595. This 1584 Latin edition is the first to contain
the Additamentum III of 23 maps, and the Parergon, in the second edition, is enlarged with
eight new maps, bringing the total number of double-page map sheets for the atlas to 112, with
a number of the sheets containing more than one map. The Parergon, the historical supplement
to the atlas reflecting Ortelius’ interest in the geography of Roman times, is sometimes issued
separately but is proper to the atlas, as is the Nomenclator Ptolemaicus. In the Theatrum Orbis
Terrarum, Ortelius’ produced one of the most brilliant and innovative of all Renaissance
books. The first true atlas in the modern sense of the word, it introduced an entirely new and
standardized method for the study of geography. For the first time in one volume, all parts
of the globe were treated in a comprehensive and uniform manner, and thus it presented as
complete a picture as was then possible of the whole world. Published not only in Latin, the
traditional language of the scholarly elite, but also in German, Dutch, French, Italian and
English, the Theatrum was thus accessible to the masses, or at least the upper middle classes
who could afford the expensive volume. This widespread dissemination had profound results in
an age when geographical knowledge was in a rudimentary state, and the information contained
in the atlas became the accepted vision of the world. Another important aspect of the work
was Ortelius’ strategy to make the atlas more acceptable to the public by incorporating beautiful
ornamentalism in the then-popular Mannerist style, thus appealing to contemporary aesthetic
tastes. In speaking of the maps in the Theatrum the noted art historian, James A. Welu,
comments on “their richness of ornamentation, [they are] a combination of science and art that
has rarely been surpassed in the history of mapmaking... Ortelius’ Theatrum is known for its
numerous decorative cartouches, which undoubtedly added to the atlas’s long popularity” - Art
and Cartography, pp. 145-146. The 1584 edition, notable for being the first to contain the third
series of additional maps, seems particularly scarce. In an article on the rarity of the various
editions of the Ortelius atlas in The Map Collector, Marcel P.R. van den Broecke estimates that
only 50 copies of the 1584 Latin edition were printed; of those the total number estimated to
be extant is only 32. The present copy is a superb example, quite tall with full margins, and in
an attractive 18th century binding. There is an ownership mark on the front free endpaper with
a small drawing of a stork, dated 1909, with a small bookplate with a stork device on front
pastedown, with the initials S.B.; below the bookplate is the small booklabel of Juan Carlos
Ahumada, Buenos Aires, with a four-line ownership inscription by him on front free endpaper,
dated Buenos Aires, Dec. 1936. Just a little rubbing to the joints and corners, the joints tender
and the front beginning to crack; title-page somewhat darkened with some minor soiling, stain
to text leaf A6, World map with unobtrusive water stains to the Southern Continent, the green
coloring in a few of the later maps has offset to the facing image; overall in fine condition, very
rare thus, with bright contemporary hand coloring, a truly beautiful book.
(150000/200000)
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