Le miroir du monde, ou Epitome du théàtre d'Abraham Ortelius [...]. Aggrandi & enrichi, entre autres de plusieurs belles cartes du Pais-Bas.

Small oblong 8vo: [1]-(16-97)-[1] ff.; 78 (of 80) maps, nicely hand-coloured (missing maps: 2. America, 18. Aalst, upper margin trimmed, minor defects).

Contemp. vellum, flat spine (sl. soiled and undulating).

Rare and unusual Zacharias Heyns's edition, in French, of Ortelius' "Epitome". With this exceptional pocket edition of the "Theatrum Orbis Terrarum", the publisher, a son of Peter Heyns, author of the rhymed text for Ph. Galle's 1st ed. in 1579, wished to thank Walter del Prato, a Cologne merchant, for marrying his niece. He presented this "Miroir du monde" as an enlargement of his father's bestseller and a tribute to him. But, instead of the common choice for copperplates, he illustrated the atlas with woodcuts, not based on the atlas but on the original maps. Also, Zacharias omitted the planned 18 lvs introduction, only including a dedication, a poem and a portrait, and gave his first gathering the signature "A&E" to make it clear that the atlas is complete. With the printer's mark (variant A) with the three main virtues on title.
Ref. van der Krogt IIIA [334:01A].
Prov. "Crozat de Vaugrand" (ms. entry); "In nomine honestas" (ms. motto).