작품 상세

This exceptional map is from Gerard Mercator's Atlas sive cosmographicae meditationes de fabrica mundi et fabricati figura. De novo multis in locis emendatus et appendice auctua studio Judoci Hondij. The work was published in Amsterdam by Johannes Cloppenburgh in 1630. This was the first of the Cloppenburgh-Editions of the Mercator Atlases. This edition also marked the first appearance of Australia in an Atlas shown as a coastline called T lant van Eendracht. "This edition of Mercator's Atlas ... was a competitive edition... Most of the maps were engraved (anew) by Pieter van den Keere ... The Cloppenburch [Cloppenburgh] edition seems to have been suppressed after 1636." (Koeman) The work contained a world map, polar map, 4 continental maps, as well as maps of parts of Europe, Asia, Africa, and America. It also included a map of Tierra del Fuego and the Straig of Magellan. Gerard Mercator (1512-1594) is one of the most famous cartographers. He created the Mercator projection for maps which had all parallels and meridians drawn at right angles to each other. This proved exceptionally useful to sailors allowing them to much more easily navigate. Mercator also introduced the term of "atlas", first used to describe his collection of maps gathered into one volume. Mercator is certainly best known for his maps and projections. Jodocus Hondius (1563-1612) was a successful geographer and engraver. He helped establish Amsterdam as the epicenter of mapmaking in the 1600s. Melchior Tavernier (1564-1641) was born in Antwerp, but was mostly established in France. He was part of large family in the publishing trade and became involved with the Hondius's early in his career. He also published works for other cartographers such as Champlain, Sanson, Tassin, and Bertius.