ORTELIUS – [HEYNS] – GALLE – PLANTIN – Malta olim Melita Insula – 1588

Description

[ORTELIUS, Abraham] – [HEYNS, Pieter] – GALLE, Philippe (1537-1612) – PLANTIN, Christophe (1514-1589)

Title of Map: Malta olim / Melita / Insula

Title: EPITOME DV THEATRE DV MONDE / D’ABRAHAM ORTELIVS.

Publisher: Christopher Plantin – Philippe Galle

Place: Antwerp

Year: 1588

Engraving size: 80 x 108mm

Printing method: copper engraving

Notes: Small oblong 8o (94 x 133 mm). French text, letterpress title with printer’s device, engraved allegorical plate, 94 engraved maps with text on verso. Third French edition of the desirable “pocket” version of Ortelius’s Theatrum Orbis Terrarum. Ortelius’s friends, Philip Galle, the engraver, and Pieter Heyns, the poet, are traditionally credited with the initiative for this reduced format atlas. Enormously popular, this version of Ortelius’s atlas was primarily used by travellers, students and others for whom the folio would be inconvenient. Copies were eagerly sought and usually received considerable wear. The atlas was published by varying printers and engravers through to the 18th century. map already on mounting board prepared for framing