Theatre de l'Univers

ORTELIUS, Abraham (1527 1598).

Verlag: Antwerp: Christopher Plantin for the author, 1598.

Beschreibung

ORTELIUS, Abraham (1527 1598). Theatre de l'Univers, contenant les cartes de tout le Monde. Avec une brieve declaration d'icelles. Antwerp: Christopher Plantin for the author, 1598. Folio (18 4/8 x 12 inches). Text in French. EVERY PAGE DOUBLE-RULED IN RED FOR PRESENTATION. EXCEPTIONALLY FINE, elaborate engraved allegorical title-page, with magnificent original hand-colour in full, HEIGHTENED WITH GOLD, portrait of Ortelius, 169 maps by Frans Hogenberg and others on 122 copper-plates and printed on 119 map-sheets, including a World Map and maps of each of the four Continents, each map richly embellished with figural cartouches, arms, sailing ships, sea monsters, and deities etc, ALL WITH EXCEPTIONAL ORIGINAL HAND-COLOUR IN FULL, mounted on guards (some minor staining at beginning and end, last few maps with early minor marginal repairs, stain to inner margin of title and first few leaves, tiny abrasions to inner margin of Pacific map 6, map 23 with short marginal tear, map 119 with short internal tear). Contemporary, probably Parisian, brown morocco gilt, with the supra libros of Antoine Blondel , Vicomte de Vadencourt (died 1618), dated 1600 (Olivier 14), and his monograms 'VV' and 'ABD' stamped in each corner, the smooth spine gilt-ruled in 8 compartments, the title in the second, the others decorated with the Vicomte de Vadencourt's alternating monograms, all edges gilt (spine ends and corners skillfully restored, endpapers renewed). Provenance: with the supra libros of the Vicomte Blondel de Vadencourt stamped in gilt in the centre of the front cover, and his his coat-of-arms, dated 1600, printed on the verso of otherwise blank Privilege page; Ex-Libris Jean R. Perrette, his sale, Christie's New York, 5th April 2016, lot 31. THE FINAL FRENCH EDITION OF ORTELIUS'S THEATRUM, WITH A DISTINGUISHED PROVENANCE, AND SUPERB COLOUR THROUGHOUT A presentation copy to Antoine Blondel, Vicomte de Vadencourt, with the margins of each page ruled in red, probably in 1600, the date that appears on the coat of arms printed directly onto the verso of the "Privilege" leaf, and his supras libros and monograms on the binding. Vadencourt came from a distinguished aristocratic family whose seat was on the banks of the Ouse at Vadencourt, or Waudencort. He was an adviser to the Parisian Parliament, of Henri IV, and died in 1618 without direct heirs. In 1650 the Spaniards destroyed the Vadencourt castle and two years later, the village was looted by the troops of the Duke of Lorraine. First published in French in 1572 with only 70 maps on 53 map-sheets, this enlarged edition includes a number of important maps. The world map used in this edition is printed from Ortelius's third and final "Typus orbis terrarium" plate (Shirley 122:3-1), which greatly improved the delineation of the southwest coastline of South America and depicted the Solomon Islands for the first time. Also included is the landmark map "America Sive Novi Orbis Nova Descriptio" (America, or New World, Newly Described), and "Maris Pacifici", the Pacific Ocean, which was first included by Ortelius in his "Additamentum" in 1590. It is the first printed map to be devoted to the Pacific Ocean, and also includes an early depiction of the west coast of North America, Japan and New Guinea. Nova Hispania (Mexico) and the California peninsula are shown quite accurately for the time. Primarily, however, the map celebrates the achievements of Magellan, the first to traverse the Pacific Ocean and to discover the strait at the southern tip of South America that would come to be named in his honor. Magellan's ship "Victoria" is depicted in the Pacific along with a celebratory Latin inscription. The map is unusually centered on the Pacific itself rather than on any landmass, thus showing the ocean in its entirety as it stretches from Asia to America. "All the elements of the modern atlas were brought to publication in Abraham Ortelius' "Theatrum Orbis Terrarum". This substantial undertaking assemb. Bestandsnummer des Verkäufers 72lib1457

Bibliografische Details

Titel: Theatre de l'Univers

Verlag: Antwerp: Christopher Plantin for the author, 1598.

Einband: Hardcover

Signiert: Signatur des Verfassers