903/​275

Gerard Mercator (b. Rupelmonde 1512, d. Duisburg 1594)

Jodocus Hondius I

Atlas Minor. Amsterdam: Jodocus Hondius [1610]. Oblong 4o. 16.6 x 22 cm. 672 p. incl. 144 hand-coloured maps with titles in cartouches, all paginated, and with letterpress headline titles printed on rectos and with Latin text on versos. Not complete. Missing pagination 3+4. Engraved and hand-coloured title page mounted on cont. paper and allegorical engraving, reinforced. Lacking last leaves (and woodcut printer's device on verso). Index at front annotated in old handwriting. Damp-staining to last part’s lower part. Bound in cont. full vellum with calligraphed title on spine and (faded) blue edges.

The Dutch cartographer Gerard Mercator (1512–1594) was the first to use the term “Atlas” (1585). The Flemish engraver and cartographer Jodocus Hondius (1563–1612), bought Mercator's plates after his death, and published this reduced version of Mercator's folio “Atlas sive Cosmographis”, and added some 36 of his own maps - a “pocketversion” - “Atlas Minor” - which Hondius published together with his partners Cornelius Claesz and Johannes Janssonius. It became a large success, and was translated into several languages and issued in c. 40 editions.

Auction

Antiquities, furniture, decorative art, carpets and books, 22 September 2021

Category

Books & manuscripts

Estimate

20,000–30,000 DKK

Sold

Price realised

40,000 DKK