7/20/2023 0 Comments Breath of orbisDespite de Jode’s longer standing reputation, the atlas did not sell very well, the commercial popularity of Ortelius’s Theatrum being well-established. Probably ready asearly as 1573, the Speculum received its final necessary approbation - the royal one - only in 1577. De Jode drew from his large stock of Italian, German, and Flemish maps and engraved some of the maps, for his atlas, the brothers Jan and Lucas van Doetecum skillfully etching most of them.Ĭontemporary of Abraham Ortelius (1527-1598), Gerard de Jode was his competitor and it is very likely that Ortelius was responsible for a delay in the publication of de Jode’s Speculum, a rival atlas, in order to protect his Theatrum Orbis Terrarum first published in 1570 and regularly increased throughout the decade (and after). Although he published and sold many maps, he is best known for his most outstanding work, his Speculum Orbis Terrarum, an atlas in two part published in 1578 with a descriptive text by the German scholar Daniel Cellarius. Gerard de Jode (1521- 1591), a Flemish cartographer, began his career as a printer and engraver in Antwerp about 1550. One of the rarest atlas of the 16th century. Revised and enlarged edition of de Jode’s Speculum. (Censor’s autorisation and colophon, Catalogus auctorum, Index tabularum). The volume consists of a handwritten index with “IHS Speculum orbis terre” at top., folios (dedication, Introductio mathematica…) illustrated with 5 engraved diagrams and woodcut table, 2 engraved allegorical titles, 109 maps on 83 double sheets, 2 double-page engraved plates by Anton Wierix (dignitaries of the Holy Roman Empire), pp. Minor restorations and light dampsaining to preliminary leaves, very slight defects (a few small stains, two maps and one plate printed slightly askew, and so, a little bit shaved on the border), wormholes to the first paste-down endpaper. Two parts in one volume, folio (420 x 300 mm) contemporary gilded vellum, title, author and date handwritten on spine, gilt edges.
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