Beautiful bird's-eye view of Zurich from the first atlas of city views ever published, the 'Civitates Orbis Terrarum'. 

This celebrated early panoramic engraving of Zurich is one of earliest commercially available plans of the city. It first appeared in Volume III of the 'Civitates Orbis Terrarum', the first atlas dedicated only to city plans. The project was driven by the successful German publisher Georg Braun, and the atlas was such a success that it grew to six volumes with hundreds of city plans, published in dozens of editions between 1572 -1614.

Braun's main artistic collaborator was the highly regarded engraver Frans Hogenberg, who not only engraved some of the maps but also sourced further engravings for Braun.

Unlike some of the other pieces included in the work, this magnificent depiction of Zurich was almost contemporaneous, being traced to a wall map map by Joseph Murer drawn in 1576.

Latin text on verso. Image of verso available on request. Coloured.[SWAS1562]