Magnificently illuminated at the time, comprising 161 double-page maps, an ornate title page, the full-page arms of Philip III of Spain on the verso, and the portrait of Abraham Ortelius, all richly hand-colored at the period, this atlas is preserved in its original contemporary decorated vellum binding.

Theatrum Orbis Terrarum first came off the press, printed at the author’s expense, on 20 May 1570, at Antwerp by Gillis Coppens van Diest. The work was dedicated to King Philip II of Spain and contained 53 maps. The result of several years of intensive labor, it responded to a genuine public need and enjoyed extraordinary success from its very first appearance. The first edition was quickly sold out, and a second Latin edition appeared the same year. In 1571, a third Latin edition and a Flemish edition followed; the following year saw a German and a French edition.

Mercator did not spare his praise for his colleague; although rivals for fame, the two geographers were bound by a solid friendship. Their genius was of a different nature: the former calculated coordinates, elaborated and organized; the latter assembled materials, improved them, and published them with the greatest care. Ortelius did more than popularize the study of geography—he stimulated new research, and thanks to him many maps were drawn and published. The Theatrum enjoyed immense popularity and went through 25 editions during the author’s lifetime; its success continued after his death until 1612. The work was expensive, costing 30 florins, and Max Rooses could write that Ortelius’s atlas was the most expensive book of the 16th century.

COMPLETE COPY WITH 128 MAPS IN THE THEATRUM AND 33 MAPS IN THE PARERGON.

For centuries, the use of printed atlases was an obvious practice for travelers. An atlas opened access to the world and to the routes linking countries and continents. But what exactly is an atlas? The answer is simple: it is the ingenious combination of maps and explanatory texts, invented by Abraham Ortelius in the final third of the 16th century. He conceived the idea of engraving sea and land maps in a uniform format and publishing them together in a single volume.

First published in 1570, the work made available to a broad public the knowledge of the finest geographers of the time. Columbus’s discovery of America and Magellan’s first circumnavigation were still relatively recent events. Even educated readers were scarcely familiar with these regions, as with many European countries. Ortelius succeeded in presenting the world to his contemporaries like a theatrical stage: scientifically as accurate as possible, yet artistically appealing, adorned with mythological figures and embellished with images of nautical instruments and ships. Following the great success of the first edition, the enterprise was continually expanded over subsequent decades with the addition of new maps. While the first edition contained only 53 maps, the 1595 edition already comprised 147.