Abraham Ortelius (1528–1598). Scotiae Tabula (Antwerp: 1575 [1573]). Published in Theatrum Orbis Terrarum (Latin edition). Double-page copperplate engraving with excellent full hand color. 13 7/8 x 18 ¾ in. to neatline; sheet: 15 3/8 x 20 ¾ in. Finely printed Latin text on verso: SCOTIA, Page no. 7. Overall, very good condition.
$2,200.00
This map provides a bold and fascinating image of Scotland in the sixteenth century. The map was issued during the reign of James VI, the son of Mary, Queen of Scots, at a time when the Kingdom of Scotland was still a sovereign state. Ortelius’ map is among the very earliest examples of a stand-alone map of the country and is referenced by scholars for early place names.
Ortelius was a great compiler of newly discovered facts and information. His map of Scotland was based in part on Mercator’s wall map of the British Isles from 1564 and is oriented with west at the top. Ortelius first published his “Scotland” in 1573 as part of the Additamentum (addendum) to his Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, and included it within subsequent editions of the atlas. The Theatrum Orbis Terrarum is widely considered to be the first modern atlas, with 70 copperplate and descriptive text in one volume. It was highly successful: the atlas appeared in 42 editions in seven languages (Latin, German, Flemish, French, Spanish, English and Italian) from 1570 until 1641, even after the geographer’s death.
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, Ortelius’ Scotiae contains all the characteristics of the Golden Age of Dutch and Flemish cartography including remarkably fine engraving and wonderful decorative elements.
Refs.: Moir, The Early Maps of Scotland, vol. I, p. 164; van den Broecke, Ortelius Atlas Maps, no. 18.
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