A stunning hand-coloured copy of the fourth Officina Plantiniana Latin edition of the first great atlas of the world, by Abraham Ortelius, with all maps, the engraved title page and divisional title pages, the full-page portrait of Ortelius, and all woodcut initials coloured by a contemporary hand and heightened in gold. This edition was published with more maps than any other 16th-century edition: 13 more than the previous edition (by the Officina Plantiniana in 1592) and 97 more than the first edition, published in Latin in 1570. It was the last edition in the original Latin before Ortelius death in 1598 and the last in any language before that year.
Ortelius began working as a cartographer with a map published in 1564 and soon began assembling maps bound together in book form. With the first edition of his present Theatrum orbis terrarum, he for the first time brought together a series of maps engraved in a uniform style and format and accompanied by a title page and an extensive text, the world's first atlas in the modern sense of the word. He also went to great efforts to ensure that his maps and information were accurate and up-to-date. The letterpress text on the back of each double-page map gives a description of and information about the region covered. The naked female figure representing America on the engraved title page, introduced with the first edition in 1570, is believed to be the first allegorical representation of the American continent. Enormously successful, Ortelius atlas went through about 40 editions in 7 languages over 70 years (extraordinary for any book, but especially for such an expensive one) and served as model for nearly every atlas that followed, establishing many of the conventions still in use today. The earliest editions were produced for Ortelius by Gielis van Diest, but Christophe Plantin took over the production in 1579, he and after his death his son-in-law Jan Moretus working closely with Ortelius and producing most of the later editions, including the most highly regarded ones. Plantins 1579 edition first introduced the present portrait of Ortelius, the Parergon, which attempts to reconstruct the geography of the ancient world, and the Nomenclator, which lists the place names in Ptolemys Geographia. The present edition adds 17 new maps (4 replacing earlier maps and 13 with no predecessors), 9 for the Theatrum and 8 for the Parergon. The Theatrum here for the first time includes separate maps of Japan, Provence and the province of Florence.
With the hand-coloured and highlighted in gold manuscript coat of arms of a cardinal from the Venetian Corner family in the foot margin of the engraved title page. Further with early manuscript inscriptions on the recto and verso of the first free flyleaf. The binding shows some signs of wear (the leather shows some cracks and with a stain on the front board slightly affecting the gold-tooled centrepiece), some slight browning throughout, most maps have been reinforced in the gutter (mainly at the foot of the pages), the first free flyleaf and maps 71 and 77 in the Theatrum have been restored in the foot margin and the gutter, some occasional minor tears in the foot margin, not affecting the maps, map 89 has been bound after map 90. Otherwise in very good condition. A beautifully coloured and highlighted in gold copy of the most extensive 16th-century edition of the first great atlas, the last edition to be extensively revised by Ortelius himself. Van den Broecke et al., eds., Abraham Ortelius and the first atlas, p. 379; Van den Broecke, Ortelius atlas maps, passim; Koeman & V.d. Krogt 31:051; Koeman III, Ort 29; Meurer, Fontes cartographici Orteliani, pp. 25-26, 33 & passim; for Ortelius: M. van den Broecke, Abraham Ortelius (2015); Karrow, Mapmakers, pp. 1-31; Koeman, Abraham Ortelius (1964), p. 42 and passim; for the engraved title page: Werner Waterschoot, Schouwende fantasye (2002), pp. 203-226.