This first edition contained seventy maps on fifty-three sheets. It was one of the most expensive books ever published. The atlas was completed in 1569, and in May of 1570, the Theatrum was available for sale.
#ABRAWEATHERHAM ORTELIUS FULL#
In 1568 the production of individual maps for his atlas Theatrum Orbis Terrarum was already in full swing. In 1565 he published a map of Egypt and a map of the Holy Land, a large map of Asia followed. The inspiration for this map may well have been Gastaldi's large world map. In 1564 he published his first map, a large and ambitious wall map of the world. In addition, he travelled a lot and visited Italy and France, made contacts everywhere with scholars and editors, and maintained extensive correspondence with them. Luke as an "illuminator of maps." Besides colouring maps, Ortelius was a dealer in antiques, coins, maps, and books, with the book and map trade gradually becoming his primary occupation.īusiness went well because his means permitted him to start an extensive collection of medals, coins, and antiques, as well as a library of many volumes. He learned Latin and studied Greek and mathematics.Ībraham and his sisters Anne and Elizabeth took up map colouring.
The maker of the 'first atlas', the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum (1570), was born on 4 April 1527 into an old Antwerp family. The west coast of North America is shown too far west, as was common at the time. This was not entirely dispelled until the second voyage of the remarkable Captain James Cook in 1772-75. No sight had been made of a vast continent, but conventional wisdom had it that there had to be as much land in the southern hemisphere as in the northern. Once through the Strait of Magellan, the voyager's sea route took him on an almost direct course for the East Indies. A strategically placed cartouche hides a complete lack of knowledge of the southern waters of the Pacific. It is recorded that they travelled together through France in 1560. The two of them had a close relationship and shared their knowledge openly with each other. The general shape of the continent is derived from Gerard Mercator's great twenty-one sheet world map of the previous year. Ortelius depicts the discoveries of several people on this map. It is almost identical to the earlier plate with the exception of the following:ġ570 plate: The largest ship in the Pacific is sailing westwards, and the Equator is shown with no graduations between the longitudinal marks.ġ579 plate: The largest ship in the Pacific is shown sailing eastwards, and there now appear graduations along the equatorial line.ġ587 plate: The bulge to the south-western coast of South America is removed. The first, of 1570, had by now developed a number of cracks. This is the third of three copperplates that Ortelius used to depict the American continent. "One of the most famous and easily recognised maps of America, and one that is both functional as well as decorative." (Burden)
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