Hondius, Henricus 1587-1638
Jodocus Hondius, one of the most notable engravers of his time. Hi is known for his work in association with many of the cartographers and publishers prominent at the end of the sixteenth and the beginning of the seventeenth century. A native of Flanders, he grew up in Ghent, apprenticed as an instrument and globe maker and map engraver. In 1584, to escape the religious troubles sweeping the Low Countries at that time, he fled to London where he spent some years before finally settling in Amsterdam about 1593. In the London period he came into contact with the leading scientists and geographers of the day and engraved maps in The Mariner's Mirrour, the English edition of Waghenaer's Sea Atlas, as well as others with Pieter van den Keere, his brother-in-law. No doubt his temporary exile in London stood him in good stead, earning him an international reputation, for it could have been no accident that Speed chose Hondius to engrave the plates for the maps in The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine in the years between 1605 and 1610. In 1604 Hondius bought the plates of Mercator's Atlas which, in spite of its excellence, had not competed successfully with the continuing demand for the Ortelius Theatrum Orbis Terrarum. To meet this competition Hondius added about 40 maps to Mercator's original number and from 1606 published enlarged editions in many languages, still under Mercator's name but with his own name as publisher. These atlases have become known as the Mercator/Hondius series. The following year the maps were reengraved in miniature form and issued as a pocket Atlas Minor. After the death of Jodocus Hondius the Elder in 1612, work on the two atlases, folio and miniature, was carried on by his widow and sons, Jodocus II and Henricus, and eventually in conjunction with Jan Jansson in Amsterdam. In all, from 1606 onwards, nearly 50 editions with increasing numbers of maps with texts in the main European languages were printed. Summaries of these issues are given under the entry for Gerard Mercator. Jodocus Hondius the Elder * 1588 Maps in The Mariner's Mirrour (Waghenaer/Ashley) * 1590 World Map in two hemispheres illustrating Drake's circumnavigation * c. 1591-92 Hiberniae novissima descrzptio: Boazio's map of Ireland: Engraved by Pieter van den Keere * 1595 Europe (wall map): with Pieter van den Keere * 1598 World and the Continents * 1599 Maps for Caert Thresoor (Langenesi Cornelis Claesz), with Pieter van den Keere * 1602-03 - 12 English County maps for William Smith ('anonymous maps') * 1605 Ptolemy's Geographia (Mercator) 1618-19 Re-issued * 1605-10 Maps for The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine (Speed) * 1606 World Atlas (Mercator/Hondius series) (see under 'Gerard Mercator' for further detail) * 1607 Atlas Minor (Mercator/Hondius series) (see under 'Gerard Mercator' for further detail) * 1608 World Map on Mercator's projection Jodocus Hondius II * 1612-21 (Mercator) Atlas Minor 5 editions published in co-operation with Jan Jansson the Elder (see under Gerard Mercator (Atlas Minor) for further detail) * 1613 Map of Scandinavia * 1616 View of London (Cl. J. Visscher) * 1616 Tabularum geographicarum (Petrus Bertius) Miniature world atlas (8vo): edition (with new maps) of the Caert Thresoor published in 1598-99 1618 Re-issued in Latin and French * 1617-18 World Map: double hemisphere The first map to show Tierra del Fuego as an island as a result of the discoveries made on the Schouten/Le Maire voyage of 1615-17. * c. 1624 World Map on Mercator's projection * 1629 Atlas (without title or text) 42 maps, mostly by Hondius, not included in the Mercator/Hondius editions Henricus Hondius * (1606) Mercator's Atlas (Mercator/Hondius/Jansson) 1613, 1619 Editions published by the widow of Jodocus Hondius the Elder, and Jodocus II and Henricus. 1623-335 editions published by Henricus alone. 1633-41 5 editions in conjunction with Jan Jansson.