ISLANDIA
£950
Superb map of Iceland by Mercator published by Hondius.
This important map first appeared in the 1595 edition of Mercator's Atlas. It is similar to Ortelius' map of Iceland (issued five years earlier) and is based on the same source - that of Bishop Gudbrandur Thorláksson. Although the map is far from accurate, it is a marked improvement on earlier maps in both content and execution. The island is depicted with its vast mountains, glaciers and fiords and the eruption in Hekla. The settlements are fairly well located and many places of interest are named. The map is decorated with a strapwork title cartouche, a sea monster and a distance scale topped with dividers. French text on verso.
Excellent hand colour
Very good condition
Reference : Van der Krogt 1, 1250:1A.
From: Gerardi Mercatoris - Atlas sive Cosmographicae Meditationes de Fabrica Mundi et Fabricati Figura. Amsterdam, Jodocus Hondius, 1609. (Van der Krogt 1, 113)
code : M5257
Cartographer : GERARD MERCATOR
Date : 1609 Amsterdam
Size : 28*43.5 cms sheet 40*56 cms
availability : Available
Price : £950
Gerard MERCATOR
Originally a student of philosophy Gerard Mercator (1512-1594). He became an expert in land surveying and cartography, as well as a skilled engraver.His first maps were published in 1537 (Palestine), and 1538 (a map of the world), although his main occupation at this time was globe-making. He later moved to Duisburg, in Germany, where he produced his outstanding wall maps of Europe and of Britain. In 1569 he published his masterpiece, the twenty-one-sheet map of the world, constructed on what is now known as Mercator's projection.
It was during this period, while teaching cosmography at Duisburg, that Mercator realised the pressing need for a modern collection of maps to supersede the Ptolemaic atlases. This project was gradually expanded to be a complete description of the Universe, both heaven and earth, with other volumes on the Creation, Genealogy and History and a Chronology. The description of the earth was to be in two parts, a modern geography and a Ptolemaic atlas, a massive and over-ambitious project. In fact, only the Chronology and the Ptolemaic Geographia were completed in his lifetime, and it was left to his son, Rumold, to complete and publish the world atlas in 1595. Entitled Atlas, sive Cosmographicae Meditationes de Fabrica Mundi, this was the first time the name "Atlas" was applied to a bound collection of maps, and, like Mercator's projection, has remained in everyday use to this day.
After Rumold's death in 1599, the plates for the atlas were published by Gerard Jr. Following his death in 1604, the printing stock was bought at auction by Jodocus Hondius, and re-issued well into the seventeenth century.
The Atlas Minor was reprinted,reengraved by many 16th century Dutch cartographers including Cloppenberg, Jansson etc.
