Epitome Theatri Orteliani: Praecipuarum Orbis Regionum Delineationes, Minoribus Tabulis Expressas, Breuioribusque Declarationibus Illustratas, Continens

Abraham Ortelius; ; Philipp Galle; Arnold Coninx; Pieter Heyns

P. Gallaeo excudebat A. Coninx, 1595

Oblong octavo atlas. 12 x 16 cm. Bound in contemporary limp vellum.  Collated: [7], 1-2, 4-5, 7-109 pp, [2].  Engraved frontis, 107 maps (of 109). Lacking maps of Asia, p.3 and England, p. 6 [Anglia]. Some soiling, discoloration to some of pages, mostly to the margins.  Contemporary ink marginalia to a few leaves. Repair to margin of maps 105-106 (Anatolia & Egypt) and an index leaf.  Ink ownership signature and rubber stamp on title. Title margin slightly worn. 

Ortelius first published the Theatrum Orbis Terrarium (The Theatre of the World) in 1570.  "The publication of [the first edition] of this atlas marked an epoch in the history of cartography. It was the first uniformly sized, systematic collection of maps of the countries of the world based only on contemporary knowledge and in that sense may be called the first modern atlas" (Tooley Maps and Map-Makers p. 29, citing 1st ed.).  This "pocket" version of Ortelius's atlas was used by travelers and students for whom the folio would be inconvenient or expensive.  The Atlas includes Ortelius' famous world map: "Typus Orbis Terrarum," (p. 1) and his map of the Americas "Americae Sive Novi Orbis, Nova Descriptio," (p. 5)  Phillips (Atlases) 394.; Koeman's Atlantes Neerlandici III.76, Ort. 56.  The first Latin ed. of this version was published in 1589.