Image size is approximately 16.5 X 22 inches. Printed on 32 lb heavyweight coated paper.

From Theatrum Orbis Terrarum ("Theatre of the World") by Abraham Ortelius, which is considered to be the first true modern atlas. These maps were based upon sources that no longer exist or are extremely rare. When the Theatrum orbis was first printed in 1570, Europeans had never visited much of the world. Ortelius, one of the greatest early cartographers, was not an experienced traveler or explorer. Instead he was an enthusiastic reader, researcher, and assembler of the travel literature of his time. All early editions of Ortelius Atlas' are of very rare, but in the case of this 1584 edition from the Plantin Press, the scarcity is extreme. This edition is the first from Plantin Press and, thus, the first issue of these fine map plates.It contains nineteen more maps than any other edition until 1598, when the Plantin Press made another issue from the same plates. Nine maps show America, and all show California correctly as a peninsula. The coloring of the plates was not only done at the press, but actually by Ortelius' maiden sisters who worked at the press for this particular production. Truly beautiful maps and some of my personal favorites.