Beschreibung:

Abraham Ortelius
Africae tabula nova
Edita Antverpiae 1570
Published: John Norton London, 1606
This is a beautiful example of a landmark map of Africa that first appeared in 1570 in the first published Atlas: Theatrum Orbis Terrarum. This example of the map is the scarce 1606 English edition of which only 300 copies were printed. The map first was produced by Abraham Ortelius whose atlas was the most expensive book published to 1570 - and it was very popular. The map of Africa was printed from 1570 until 1641 from one copper plate, engraved by Frans Hogenberg. The map shows well (in the title cartouche) the effect of the crack that developed in the copper plate in the late its the fifth state (i.e. minor changes to the plate were made four times after the original print run - in this state '=' appears after Oceanus Aethio). The verso text is in English (the only English edition, which was published in 1606 by John Norton in London - the pages with the map having been printed in the Netherlands). The map is a significant advance on Münster’s map of the continent. Ortelius acknowledged his sources in his Catalogus Auctorum: he had been able to draw on information from the Portuguese, other European travellers and from Arabs. However the geography was based largely on Gastaldi’s 1564 wall map. Ortelius’s map has fewer decorative elements but those he does include are stunningly beautiful: three sea monsters (plus the ghost monster, which cannot be seen in 1603 off the coast of today's Yemen) - it faded away in the mid 1580s; and a raging sea battle at bottom right. The Cape of Good Hope is more pointed that in contemporary maps. However the E-W and N-S distance are much more accurate. Unlike Mercator, Ortelius did not have the Niger as a tributary of the Nile. He also omitted the Mountains of the Moon which were a typical feature of map of the 16th and 16th centuries. He uses Zanzibar in SW Africa to denote a people and Zenzibar as the toponym for the island off the East coast. Van den Broecke provides translations of the complete map title and most of the interesting annotations on the map The famous crack: the plate used for this map began to crack in the title cartouche between 1595 and 1598. Then the top right I and second right A began to join. Later the third and fourth A on the right join as well. These unintentional "states" of the plate, caused during printing or reworking of the plate) can be used to date the map more precisely over the period 1598-1612. This a beautiful example of the scarce English edition of the Ortelius map. It is in near fine good condition; the lower central join outside the plate mark has been professionally restored as have a few short marginal tears outside the plateline. References: Marcel van den Broecke at http://www.orteliusmaps.com/book/ort8.html Richard Betz, The Mapping of Africa, #12, pp. 118 - 125 Tooley's Collectors' Guide to Maps of the African Continent, p. 88; Norwich's Maps of Africa #10 Overall Condition: Near fine Size: 50cm x 37cm