Mercator, Gerard. - Atlas sive cosmographicae... - Lot 338 - Crait + Müller

Lot 338
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Mercator, Gerard. - Atlas sive cosmographicae... - Lot 338 - Crait + Müller
Mercator, Gerard. - Atlas sive cosmographicae meditationes de fabrica mundi et fabricati figura. Iam tandem ad finemperductus, quamplurimis aeneis tabulis Africae, Asiae et Americae auctus ac illustratus à Iudoco Hondio (...) Editio secunda. Amsterdam, Hondius, 1609. In-folio, gilt vellum binding with flaps, the boards decorated with a double frame delimiting a large rectangle with corners decorated with spandrels and in the centre occupied by a large interlacing motif surrounding a circular medallion, spine ribbed, decorated entrenerfs, traces of green silk lakes. - Corners pierced, several nerves visible, spine cover lifted over more than half, frontispiece partly detached from mounting tab, first two leaves creased, several marginal tears without missing text or image, some old repairs, numerous freckles, several pagination errors: pages 67, 68, 114, 115, 267 are repeated twice, there is no page 269 and page 309 is paginated 390. - 2 ff.], 358 pp. 18 ff.] all mitre-mounted, 146 double plates, 3 single plates, 1 initial frontispiece, 4 intermediate titles, all copper-engraved, wood-engraved headpieces, lamp-heads and lettering. Second edition of this large atlas first published in 1595. Preserved in its original binding, it presents the world as it was known at the end of the 16th century. While Europe, and particularly France, Spain, Flanders and Germany, is given pride of place, the American islands are well described, as are the islands of Southeast Asia. Africa is the subject of several maps and even if the interior of the land remains unknown, at least Mercator refrained from including the monstrous beings or the mythical kingdom of the priest John that his predecessors had placed there. India, China and Japan are each covered in two pages, showing the total ignorance of these countries. The text, in French, also deals with the creation of the world according to Genesis. Several maps present interesting features. Some cities such as Limoges, Moers, Cuzco have a figurative representation. The map of Lake Geneva shows the portraits of five great reformers, the map of the Ottoman Empire shows the portrait of Mehmet III. The general map of America shows the eating and drinking habits of the native peoples. In many places in unfamiliar regions, cartographers have not hesitated to place local or supposedly local fauna: elephants on the island of Ceylon, amphibious monsters on Tierra del Fuego, turkeys on the coast of Florida, sea monsters and ships, both of great diversity, on almost all seas. The maps are broken down as follows: World (1), Europe (2), Africa (6), Asia (13), America (7), Pole (1), Iceland (1), England and Ireland (17), Flanders and the Netherlands (10), Germany (24), Poland, Russia, Baltic States (6), Scandinavia (5), Central Europe (7), France (15), Spain Portugal (7), Italy (16), Switzerland (5), Balkans (6)
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