Title of the map : "PORTUGALLIAE quae olim Lusitania, novissima & exactissima descriptio, Auctore Vernando Aluaro Secco"

In bottom right corner: "Cum Privilegio"

In the bottom cartouche, 17 lines of text "Guidoni Asca.... Anno MCCCCCLX"

Large, unusual and nice antique copper engraved map of Portugal, from Theatrum Orbis Terrarum by Abraham ORTELIUS (1527-1598).

The map is decorated with two large cartouches, two sailing ships, and a seamonster. 

Edition: Antwerp, Christophe Plantin, 1579, First Plantin Edition, 16th century

Verso text: Latin (page number: 14)

Size of the map with margins: 59 x 46 cm / 23,2 x 18,1 inches

Condition: good condition, handed colored, strong paper, a very small hole in the bottom (size 0,1") restored on back, real large margins.

Abraham Ortelius (1527-1598) is the inventor of the first Atlas. He is the greatest and the best geographe and cartographe.

Abraham Ortelius began his career as a colorist with Christophe Plantin, a printer in Antwerp. He was a cartographer and an humanist. He became a friend of the house and one of the great authors attached to the Plantin-Moretus printing house, were the majority of the atlases were printed at this period. 

Antwerp is in the sixteenth century one of the largest cities in Europe and a major cultural and artistic center. The printing press is flourishing and the Officinia Plantinia or the Compas d'Or, the publishing house founded by Christophe Plantin, is one of the most important and sells books throughout Europe. With 16 presses and 80 employees, it offers an impressive catalogue of various books and maps.

Above all, Ortelius forged a reputation as the inventor of the modern atlas: in 1570, he was the first to collect a series of maps of identical format and style, the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum. He achieved this thanks to his vast knowledge and his numerous contacts with scholars throughout Europe, a few years before his contemporaries Gerard de Jode and Gerard Mercator also published an atlas.

1570, the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum of Ortelius is the first atlas printed in the modern sense of the word; it is published in Latin in Antwerp. The book includes 53 maps, works by different authors, classified from general to particular. 

On the verso of each map, a text exposes the knwoledge of the represented region. The success was immediate and translations from Latin to French, German or Dutch were quickly published. When it was published in 1570, this work was the first to compile all known world maps in the same format. It is a huge success despite its high price (it is reputed to be the most expensive book of its century). It will know 42 editions in 7 languages until its last posthumous publications in 1612. 

(ref. Van der Broecke, 26).

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WE DON'T SELL LASER AND COPIES MAPS, ALL WE SELL IS ORIGINAL AND ANTIQUE

Due to the age an type of paper, some imperfections are to be expected. Please examine the images provided carefully, and if you have any questions please ask and we will be happy to help you