The third of Abraham Ortelius’ three maps of America, from the very rare and desirable English-language edition of his Theatrum Orbis Terrarum.

The plate for this map was engraved in 1587, thus replacing earlier versions published by Ortelius in 1570 and 1579. The most notable feature of this new map is the removal of the bulge on the western coast of South America, yielding a slimmer and more accurate representation. The map also features a number of significant additions to the eastern seaboard, which Burden attributes to English exploration of the region—above all, the apparent inclusion of the Chesapeake Bay for the first time in a printed map:

“On the west coast of North America some new nomenclature appears, R. de los estrechos, Cab. Mendocino and California. The most important introductions on the east coast are the Indian name WINGANDEKOA, and just to its north an inlet. They both originate from the unsuccessful English attempts at colonising the Outer Banks of present day North Carolina. It has been suggested that the inlet could be the first depiction of the Chesapeake Bay on a printed map.” (p. 79).

In the Pacific, the Solomon Islands, discovered by Alvaro de Mendoza in 1568, are included for the first time on a printed map.

The map was a success and had a long, long history in print: According to van den Broecke, a whopping total of some 4850 copies were issued in editions of the Theatrum as late as 1612. The example offered here is notable for being from the sole English-language edition of the atlas, published in 1606, with a print run of only 350.

Much of the English text on the verso is given over to speculation on how it was possible that the Americas “should lie concealed from our ancestours, till the yeere of Christ 1492”, and a conclusion that in fact “this New world many ages past was entred upon by some islanders of Europe, as namely of Groenland, Island, and Frisland.” On this example of the map, the text is augmented by a couple of English-language notations by an unnamed owner. He (or she) has extended the printed title–“The New World, commonly called America”—with the phrase “from Americus Vespacius[?] a Florentine discovered it.” And along the upper edge is written “America is bounded on ye East with ye Atlantic Ocean & ye Virginian Seas by [?] from [?] Mare Del Nort on ye Isles [?] Mare del Zur which divides it from Asia on ye South [?] Ter Australis Incognita”.

Abraham Ortelius
Abraham Ortelius is widely credited as the compiler of the first modern world atlas—the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum (“Theatre of the World”)—with the maps drawn on a uniform format. In the Theatrum, he assembled a collection of the best maps of the regions of the world then available by the best cartographers of the period, many of them separately-published, and even at that time of great rarity. Consequently, many of his individual maps in the atlas represent the earliest-available good-quality maps of the region depicted, and are very collectable today.

Otrtelius began his career as a map colorist (“afsetter van Karten”)—as were both his sisters—and in this capactiy he entered the Guild of St. Luke in Antwerp in 1547. At an early stage, he became a map collector, then presumably inspired by Gerard Mercator, with whom he travelled round Trier, Lorraine, and Poitiers, he turned his focused toward mapmaking and was persuaded to assemble his Theatrum.

The first edition of the atlas was published on May 20, 1570, containing 70 maps. The atlas was an immediate success, and through 1612 some forty-five editions were published in total. He often expanded the atlas with additional maps, printed originally with Latin text on the verso, but later editions appeared in the vernacular: Dutch, French, German, Italian, Spanish and a single edition in English. The final editions contained 161 maps. There were also four principal “pocket” editions of the atlas, for sale at the lower end of the market.

Later in life, he focused on classical and biblical subjects, compiling the Parergon–an atlas of historical and biblical maps–and accompanying text books, such as the Synonymia geographica.

In recognition of his extraordinary talents, he was appointed Geographer to the King of Spain, Philip II, in 1575. Both the atlas, in its many editions, and the individual maps had a profound influence on his contemporaries and successors, and were much copied by competitors.

References
Burden, Mapping of North America, 64 (pl. 64). Van den Broecke, Cartographica Neerlandica, Ort 11.