An attractive old-color example of this important map of Iceland from an otherwise unrecorded manuscript prototype attributed to Guðbrand Þorláksson [Gudbrand Thorlakson] (1541?-1627), bishop of Hólar and the first cartographer native to the island.

Background
Guðbrand Þorláksson studied at the University of Copenhagen before returning to Iceland in 1564. He was appointed Bishop of Hólar in 1571, with jurisdiction over northern Iceland. As one part of his role, Þorláksson sought to print Reformation religious texts, translated into Icelandic, many of which he personally edited and translated. Indeed, Þorláksson supervised publication of a Bible, the New Testament, hymnals and so on, even learning engraving to assist in the preparation of ornaments for the texts. 

Þorláksson’s interests extended far beyond spiritual matters and into vulcanography and geography. He produced at least one manuscript map of Iceland, sadly no longer extent, but it served as the basis for the map of the island in Abraham Ortelius’ Theatrum Orbis Terrarum (1585/1587), famed primarily for its fantastical pictorial elements.  Þorláksson’s map, as interpreted by Ortelius, is considered the earliest relatively accurate modern map of Iceland. It marked a vast improvement on the previous generation of maps: the Benedetto Bordone (1528), the Jérome de Gourmont (1548) and the 1558 map by Arnold Mercator (1537-1597).

The “Islandia”
Offered here is another interpretation of Þorláksson’s map, by Gerard Mercator. It first appeared in Gerard Mercator’s Atlas sive cosmographicae meditationes de fabrica mundi et fabricati figura, published posthumously in 1595. This particular example was issued in a subsequent French-language edition, published by Hendrik Hondius in 1633.

While the cartography is also attributed to Þorláksson, this map differs substantially from the Ortelius, suggesting that they are based on different versions of Þorláksson’s manuscript, presumably transmitted and acquired by different routes. The National Library of Iceland that the Mercator map is

“clearly based on the Icelandic map of Bishop Guðbrandur Þorláksson. It is not known by what means the bishop’s map, or copies of it, came into Mercator’s hands. Ortelius and Mercator were friends, but Mercator does not seem to have taken Ortelius’ map of Iceland, which was published five years earlier, directly; there is too much difference between the maps for that. However, it seems clear that they both used the same or a similar program. It is known that Mercator was in contact with the Danish politician and scholar Henrik Rantzau, who had been helpful to him in obtaining maps of the Nordic countries. In the letters between them that have survived, there is no mention of Iceland at all, but it is not unlikely that Rantzau provided Mercator with a copy of Guðbrand’s Iceland map. …” (accessed online, Jan. 2026)

The cataloguer points to the Mercator potentially being closer to Þorláksson’s original than the Ortelius, pointing out for example that the Mercator features nearly 300 additional place names, many of which are presented differently.

“A comparison of both models, Ortelius’ and Mercator’s, seems to indicate that the shortcomings are largely due to Bishop Guðbrand’s original map. Although Mercator’s coastlines are too sharp and straight and the arc of the East Fjords is not well represented, the country is in many ways better done than Ortelius’s. Everything is more compact and not as fragmented, the fjords and peninsulas are less prominent, the rivers are not as magnificent and the volcanic activity of Hekla is more moderate. It makes a big difference that the monsters in the sea have disappeared, all but one, and the sea ice, driftwood and polar bears too. The map thus becomes more solid and simple in every way but at the same time not as ornate. This could indicate that Mercator’s map is closer to the original in this respect.”

While not as famous as the Ortelius, the Mercator model is an important as a variant form of the early modern delineation of Iceland by the earliest Icelandic cartographer.

References
Peter van der Krogt, Koeman’s Atlantes Neerlandici, 1250:1A. Sigurðsson, Kortasaga Íslands, vol. 2, p. 16-19 & plate 2.