Europe - Mer Méditerranée / Bulgarie / Albanie / Macédoine du Nord / Turquie / Grèce / Italie; Abraham Ortelius / Giacomo Castaldi - Graeciae Universae Secundum Hodiernum Situm Neoterica Descriptio Iacobo Castaldo Pedemontano Auctore - 1581-1600

HIGHLY DECORATIVE MAP OF GREECE AND MEDITERRANEAN SEA by Abraham Ortelius (1527–1598). Original hand coloured copper engraving in very good condition, taken directly from the original volumes, with wide and original margins, no particular cuts or defects to report, normal signs of aging, strong heavy paper with chain lines and a watermark as the photos show. This beautiful map depicts GREECE AND THE BIGGEST ISLANDS LIKE RHODES, CORFU, KEFALONIA, SANTORINI, MYKONOS, AND PART OF BULGARIA, TURKEY & CONSTANTINOPLE, NORTH MACEDONIA, ALBANIA AND ITALY (APULIA REGION), as it was known in the 1570’s. This is the French edition of Theatrum Orbis Terrarum with French text on verso. According to Dr. Marcel van den Broecke, Ortelius used Giacomo Gastaldi's 1543 Venice-published maps as a source, and according to Philip Burden, Gastaldi's 1548 edition of Ptolemy's Geography, "was the most comprehensive atlas produced between Martin Waldseemüller's Geographia of 1513, and the Abraham Ortelius Theatrum of 1570".

Title: Graeciae Universae Secundum Hodiernum Situm Neoterica Descriptio Iacobo Castaldo Pedemontano Auctore. Cum privilegio. [The modern description of all of Greece according to the actual situation of today by Giacomo Castaldi (1500-1566) from Piemonte. With privilege]. Published in Antwerp by Plantin Press in 1587, and in only 250 copies as claimed by Dr. Marcel van den Broecke (Cartographica Neerlandica).

Size & Description: Height 430 x Width 564 mm (16.9 x 22.2 inches). Centre fold as published. Original intact and wide margins. The map is in very good condition with beautiful colours and minor signs of age and use, with intact margins, the laid paper is watermarked with a coat of arms and a crown. Very detailed map, rich in precious decorations and an elaborate cartouche, the sea is crossed by an ancient ship, the title of map and the author's name are in the low left corner. Rare decorative map of Greece, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Albania, Turkey and Mediterranean Sea from Ortelius' Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, the first modern atlas of the world.

References: Van den Broecke Ort 146; Koeman/Meurer: 40; Karrow: 1/60; Van der Krogt 7800:31; Zacharakis - 2484/1610.

Author/Cartographer: Abraham Ortelius (1527–1598) was a Brabantian cartographer, geographer, and cosmographer, conventionally recognized as the creator of the first modern atlas, the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum (Theatre of the World). Along with Gemma Frisius and Gerardus Mercator, Ortelius is generally considered one of the founders of the Netherlandish school of cartography and geography. He was a notable figure of this school in its golden age (approx. 1570s–1670s) and an important geographer of Spain during the age of discovery. The publication of his atlas in 1570 is often considered as the official beginning of the Golden Age of Netherlandish cartography. He was the first person proposing that the continents were joined before drifting to their present positions.

Author/Cartographer: Giacomo Gastaldi (1500 – 1566) was born in Villafranca, in Piemonte (Italy), to a wealthy family. Although he is considered one of the greatest cartographers of the sixteenth century, the events of his life and his professional training in the field of cartography are unknown to us until he arrives in Venice, where, in 1539, he obtained a perpetual printing privilege from the Venetian Senate. By the 1540s, he had developed his distinctive style of copper engraving for his increasingly prolific output of maps. His maps were used as a source by many mapmakers, including Camocio, Bertelli, Forlani, Ramusio, Cock, Luchini and Ortelius.

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