Orbis terrae compendiosa descriptio.

Engr., 29 x 52 cm, b/w (1 tiny wormhole, a foxing spot, central folding sl. strengthened, fine impression).

Extremely rare double hemisphere map by Rumold Mercator, based upon Gerard Mercator’s celebrated 1569 world map and made while Gerard was still alive (1512-1594). Isaac Casaubon (1559-1614), a classical scholar, commissioned Rumold to create the map for his publication of Strabo’s "Geographia" (Geneva, Eustathius Vignon, 1587). Later, Rumold's map was issued separately as well as being printed in the later issues of the Mercator atlas. Although the map is a reduced version of the 1569 wall map it does not show the revolutionary Mercator Projection, but neither does any other of the maps that were published in Mercator atlases. The present edition with four columns of letterpress text in Latin "De Mundi creatione ac constitutione brevis instruction” and without any text on the verso, appeared in the 1595 edition of Mercator's Atlas. The engraving is, with its distinctive strapwork surround, neatly executed. This copy is clearly an early pull from the copperplate before cracks became evident.
Ref. Van der Krogt I [0001:1A]. - Shirley 157. - Watelet 379. - Karrow 56/17.10.