Abraham Ortelius, Theatrum orbis terrarum, Antwerp, 1601
The work of the great Flemish cartographer, Ortelius (1527-1598), originally published in 1570 with seventy copper plates, had numerous editions in various languages up to the beginning of the seventeenth century. In this remarkable posthumous edition of the Workshop Plantiniana dating back to 1601 it is enhanced by new plates. Considered as the first real modern atlas, it represents the first systematic collection of plates in sheetmaps of the same format, partly original and partly derived from previous maps, which were engraved on the same scale twenty-five years before the Mercator Atlas. The sample presents two stamps: that of the Medici-Palatinate, and the Museum of Physics and Natural History.
Location: Firenze - Biblioteca Umanistica, Sezione Geografia – Collezione Marinelli