Abraham Ortelius (1528–1598). Palestinae Sive Totius Terrae Promissionis Nova Descriptio Auctore Tilemanno Stella Signensi. (Antwerp: 1603). This map was printed in 300 copies to accompany the 1603 Latin edition of Ortelius’ iconic atlas, Theatrum Orbis Terrarum. Double-page copperplate engraving with excellent hand color. 13 3/8 x 17 7/8 in. at neatline with full margins. Sheet: 19 1/2 x 23 in. Verso text: “Palaestina.” Reinforced centerfold on verso, minor marginal wrinkling at upper and lower centerfold. Very good condition.
$1,500.00
Ortelius’ Beautiful Map of the Holy Land
This is a hand colored 1603 Abraham Ortelius map of Palestine or the Holy Land. The map covers from the ancient city of Berytus (Beirut, Lebanon) to the Red Sea and from the Nile River to Damascus (Syria). The map shows the route taken by the wandering Hebrews after the Exodus from Egypt across the Red Sea. The Dead Sea stands out as it is depicted in a crescent shape. A Baroque title cartouche sits at the lower right with a scale underneath. At the upper left, another decorative cartouche contains text which describes the area. There are three ships in the Mediterranean, one of which appears to be towing a skiff.
Cartographically, this map is derived from the work of Tileman Stella, an earlier German mapmaker. In contrast to much of Ortelius’ other work, which emphasizes the most recent information, his Palestinae Sive Totius is more of a historical map which includes Old Testament geography.
Flemish by birth, Abraham Ortelius (1527-1598) became geographer to the king of Spain in 1575, whereby his access to Spanish maps gave him the means to create a more complete image of the New World than had previously been disseminated. A brilliant thinker, Ortelius offered the very first theory of continental drift, published in Thesaurus geographicus (1596). Gerardus Mercator and Ortelius were contemporaries and associates, close enough that history records it was through Mercator’s encouragement that Ortelius pursued the creation of his important atlas, first issued in 1570.
A beautiful and important map from the heyday of Dutch decorative cartography, it contains all the characteristics of the Golden Age of Dutch and Flemish cartography including remarkably fine engraving and wonderful decorative details.
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