TRANSLATION OF CARTOUCHE TEXT: Gedanum, Krantio, in the native Vendish dialect Gdanum, commonly, but corruptedly, Dantiscum, in German Danzig. Prosperous city in Prussia and well-known trading port. With this topographical map, painted at his expense, the famous and singular patron of learned men Dr Adam Wachendorff, wise and faithful secretary of the Hanseatic League in London, kindly contributed a magnificent adornment for our work. 

COMMENTARY BY BRAUN: "The inhabitants of Danzig run to the sea by day and night, carrying fishing nets with them; they wait for slack water and then run naked into the sea during the ebb tide and scoop up from the ground whatever the can find with their fishing nets. [...] And when they have brought in the nets, they run back to the shore where the women are waiting to see what good things they have brought, and shake out the nets, and the women gather up whatever is good." 

Gdansk is shown in a view from Gradowa Hill (Hegelsberg) from the direction of the Gulf of Gdansk and the mouth of the Vistula. In the foreground the staffage figures demonstrate the rich clothing of the burghers, peasants and maids and - just like the many ships on the Baltic Sea - the wealth of this trade city. In the silhouette of the city the church of St Mary ( Die Phare Kirch, or parish church) can be identified, the biggest red-brick church in the world, which can accommodate 25,000 people. To the right of it rises the tower of the Gothic town hall. Gdansk was first recorded in 997; from 1308 the city was ruled by the Teutonic Knights, and it became a member of the Hanseatic League in 1361. In 1454 Gdansk, together with the Prussian Confederation, placed itself under the protection of the Polish king. (Taschen)

Braun G. & Hogenberg F. and the Civitates Orbis Terrarum.

The Civitates Orbis Terrarum, or the "Braun & Hogenberg", is a six-volume town atlas and the greatest book of town views and plans ever published: 363 engravings, sometimes beautifully coloured. It was one of the best-selling works in the last quarter of the 16th century. Georg Braun wrote the text accompanying the plans and views on the verso. A large number of the plates were engraved after the original drawings of Joris Hoefnagel (1542-1600), who was a professional artist. The first volume was published in Latin in 1572, and the sixth in 1617. Frans Hogenberg created the tables for volumes I through IV, and Simon van den Neuwel created those for volumes V and VI. Other contributors were cartographers Daniel Freese and Heinrich Rantzau. Works by Jacob van Deventer, Sebastian Münster, and Johannes Stumpf were also used. Translations appeared in German and French.

Following the original publication of Volume 1 of the Civitates in 1572, seven further editions of 1575, 1577, 1582, 1588, 1593, 1599 and 1612 can be identified. Vol.2, first issued in 1575, was followed by further editions in 1597 and in 1612. The next volumes appeared in 1581, 1588, 1593, 1599 and 1606. The German translation of the first volume appeared from 1574 on, and the French edition from 1575 on.

Several printers were involved: Theodor Graminaeus, Heinrich von Aich, Gottfried von Kempen, Johannis Sinniger, Bertram Buchholtz and Peter von Brachel, who all worked in Cologne.

Georg Braun (1541-1622)

Georg Braun was born in Cologne in 1541. After his studies in Cologne, he entered the Jesuit Order as a novice. In 1561 he obtained his bachelor's degree, and in 1562 his Magister Artium. Although he left the Jesuit Order, he studied theology, gaining a licentiate in theology.

Frans Hogenberg (1535-1590)

Frans Hogenberg was a Flemish and German painter, engraver, and mapmaker. He was born in Mechelen as the son of Nicolaas Hogenberg.

By the end of the 1560s, Frans Hogenberg was employed upon Abraham Ortelius's Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, published in 1570; he is named an engraver of numerous maps. In 1568 he was banned from Antwerp by the Duke of Alva and travelled to London, where he stayed a few years before emigrating to Cologne. He immediately embarked on his two most important works, the Civitates, published in 1572 and the Geschichtsblätter, which appeared in several series from 1569 until about 1587.

Thanks to large-scale projects like the Geschichtsblätter and the Civitates, Hogenberg's social circumstances improved with each passing year. He died as a wealthy man in Cologne in 1590.