Old antique maps - Matched set of the world map + the continents (5 maps) by G. and R. Mercator 1613-16
Gerard Mercator (1512 – 1594)
Gerard Mercator was born Gerard de Cremere in Rupelmonde (near Antwerp) on 5 March 1512.
Young Gerard learned what Latin he could in Rupelmonde, and when he was about fifteen, his uncle sent him to s'Hertogenbosch to study at a school run by the Brothers of the Common Life. One of Mercator’s teachers was the celebrated humanist Macropedius. After three and a half years with the brothers, Gerard went to Louvain, where he enrolled in the university in 1530 as one of the poor students at Castle College.
By this time, he had Latinized his name to Mercator. He studied philosophy and took his master’s degree in 1532. The problems of the creation of the Universe and the Earth interested him in particular, and this is reflected in his works written in later years.
After spending a few years in Antwerp, he returned to Louvain in c. 1535, where he took courses in mathematics under Gemma Frisius. Soon, he was recognised as an expert on the construction of mathematical instruments, as a land surveyor and, after 1537, as a cartographer. He drew his income from these activities after his marriage on August 3, 1536. He also qualified himself as a copper engraver, the first to introduce italic handwriting to this trade. The first maps, drawn and engraved by Gerard Mercator, are Palestine, 1537; the World in double heart-shaped projection, 1538; and Flanders, 1540.
In 1544, Mercator came into great danger: he was arrested on the accusation of heresy and put into jail. Thanks to the intervention of the University of Louvain, he was released after four months. In 1552, he moved with his family to Duisburg (Germany). In 1560, Mercator became a cosmographer in service of the Duke of Jülich-Cleve-Berge, and in 1563, he became a lecturer at the Grammar School of the new University in Duisburg. During this period, he made wall maps of Europe, 1554; of Loraine, 1564; the British Isles, 1564; and the famous world map with increasing latitudes, 1569. About this time, Mercator was also working on the project for a complete description of the creation, the Heavens, Earth, Sea and world history. This resulted in his Atlas, sive cosmographicae meditationes de fabrica mundi et fabricati figura. He also worked on an edition of Ptolemy’s Geographia in 1578. The first part of his book, which contains modern maps (France, Germany, and the Netherlands), appeared in 1585.
Shortly after the publication of the second part of his map book (not yet called Atlas) with the maps of Italy (1589), he had a stroke that ended his highly significant productivity. The great man passed away on 2 December 1594, leaving the responsibility of finishing the map book to his son Rumold. The final part of it appeared in 1595. Its title is Pars Altera, and it constitutes an essential part of what was then called Mercator’s Atlas.
The map of Europe and the world map in the Atlas are by Rumold Mercator. After Rumold died in 1599, the Atlas was reissued in 1602.
The plates of the maps, both of the Ptolemy edition and the Atlas, were sold in 1604 to Jodocus Hondius of Amsterdam. The following year, Hondius managed to bring out Ptolemy’s Geographia. In 1606, the first Amsterdam edition of the Mercator Atlas appeared in the next year. From then to 1638, the Atlas saw many enlarged editions in various languages.
Orbis Terrae Compendiosa Descriptio Quam ex Magna Universali Gerardi Mercatoris . . . Rumoldus Mercator fieri curabat A° M.D.LXXXVII [in set with:]
Item Number: 24514 Authenticity Guarantee
Category: Antique maps > World and Polar
Nice matched set of the word map + the continents by G. and R. Mercator
Date of the first editions: 1585-87
Date of these maps: 1613-16
Copper engraving
Size of the world map: 29 x 52.5cm (11.3 x 20.5 inches)
Size of the continents: Approx. 37.5 x 46.5cm (14.6 x 18.1 inches)
Verso text: French
Condition: Old coloured, lower centrefold splits reinforced, some margins frayed (outside the image).
Condition Rating: B+
References:
World: Shirley (World), 157; Van der Krogt 1, 0001:1A, Karrow, 56/17.10.
America: Burden 87; Van der Krogt 1, 9000:1A, Karrow, 56/17.13; Wagner, 179
Europe: Van der Krogt 1000:1A; Karrow, 56/38.1
Africa: Van der Krogt 1, 8600:1A; Karrow, 56/17.11; Betz, 31
Asia: Van der Krogt 1, 8000:1A; Parry, Pl. 3.13; Karrow, 56/17.12
From: Gerardi Mercatoris - L'Atlas ou Méditations Cosmographiques de la Fabrique du Monde et Figure diceluy. Amsterdam, J. Hondius, 1613-16. (Van der Krogt 1, 112)
After the death of the great Gerard Mercator in 1594 it was left to his son Rumold to publish the last of three parts that formed his famous atlas, the Atlantis Pars Altera. The atlas was finished with a number of maps engraved by various descendants of Gerard.
Gerard Mercator's great world map of 1569 was condensed into double hemispherical form by his son Rumold. It first appeared in Isaac Casaubon's edition of Strabo's Geographia published in Geneva in 1587 with columns of text beneath the map. Later Rumold's map was incorporated into editions of Mercator's long-lived and influential Atlas from 1595 onwards.
The task of the American map was given to his grandson Michael. The only printed map known to be by him, it is beautifully engraved.
It is a hemispherical map contained within an attractive floral design, and surrounded by four roundels, one of which contains the title. The other three contains maps of the Gulf of Mexico, Cuba and Hispaniola, all spheres of Spanish influence. The general outline is largely taken from Rumold Mercator's world map of 1587, with a little more detail added. A few of the most famous theories are still present: a large inland lake in Canada, two of the four islands of the North Pole, a bulge to the west coast of South America and the large southern continent. It does not show any knowledge of the English in Virginia, which is possibly a reflection of their failure by then. A large St. Lawrence River is shown originating half way across the continent. (Burden)
Gerard Mercator (1512 – 1594)
Gerard Mercator was born Gerard de Cremere in Rupelmonde (near Antwerp) on 5 March 1512.
Young Gerard learned what Latin he could in Rupelmonde, and when he was about fifteen, his uncle sent him to s'Hertogenbosch to study at a school run by the Brothers of the Common Life. One of Mercator’s teachers was the celebrated humanist Macropedius. After three and a half years with the brothers, Gerard went to Louvain, where he enrolled in the university in 1530 as one of the poor students at Castle College.
By this time, he had Latinized his name to Mercator. He studied philosophy and took his master’s degree in 1532. The problems of the creation of the Universe and the Earth interested him in particular, and this is reflected in his works written in later years.
After spending a few years in Antwerp, he returned to Louvain in c. 1535, where he took courses in mathematics under Gemma Frisius. Soon, he was recognised as an expert on the construction of mathematical instruments, as a land surveyor and, after 1537, as a cartographer. He drew his income from these activities after his marriage on August 3, 1536. He also qualified himself as a copper engraver, the first to introduce italic handwriting to this trade. The first maps, drawn and engraved by Gerard Mercator, are Palestine, 1537; the World in double heart-shaped projection, 1538; and Flanders, 1540.
In 1544, Mercator came into great danger: he was arrested on the accusation of heresy and put into jail. Thanks to the intervention of the University of Louvain, he was released after four months. In 1552, he moved with his family to Duisburg (Germany). In 1560, Mercator became a cosmographer in service of the Duke of Jülich-Cleve-Berge, and in 1563, he became a lecturer at the Grammar School of the new University in Duisburg. During this period, he made wall maps of Europe, 1554; of Loraine, 1564; the British Isles, 1564; and the famous world map with increasing latitudes, 1569. About this time, Mercator was also working on the project for a complete description of the creation, the Heavens, Earth, Sea and world history. This resulted in his Atlas, sive cosmographicae meditationes de fabrica mundi et fabricati figura. He also worked on an edition of Ptolemy’s Geographia in 1578. The first part of his book, which contains modern maps (France, Germany, and the Netherlands), appeared in 1585.
Shortly after the publication of the second part of his map book (not yet called Atlas) with the maps of Italy (1589), he had a stroke that ended his highly significant productivity. The great man passed away on 2 December 1594, leaving the responsibility of finishing the map book to his son Rumold. The final part of it appeared in 1595. Its title is Pars Altera, and it constitutes an essential part of what was then called Mercator’s Atlas.
The map of Europe and the world map in the Atlas are by Rumold Mercator. After Rumold died in 1599, the Atlas was reissued in 1602.
The plates of the maps, both of the Ptolemy edition and the Atlas, were sold in 1604 to Jodocus Hondius of Amsterdam. The following year, Hondius managed to bring out Ptolemy’s Geographia. In 1606, the first Amsterdam edition of the Mercator Atlas appeared in the next year. From then to 1638, the Atlas saw many enlarged editions in various languages.
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