Early miniature map of the of the world on an oval projection from a work compiled, edited and engraved by Jodocus Hondius, Pieter van den Keere and Petrus Bertius.

This map has an extremely complicated printing history. It was first issued in 1597 by Barent Langenes and Cornelis Claesz from what was generally acknowledged as the finest miniature atlas published to that date. Unfortunately, no example of this edition has been found and the earliest examples available to collectors are from 1598 onwards.

Geographically, the map bears a close resemblance to the world map from the “Epitome”, a miniature atlas based on the maps of Abraham Ortelius. However, this map is very slightly larger and with more detail.

The miniature atlas issued by Langenes and Claesz was named the “Caert-Thresoor” or Map Treasury. Only the two world maps were engraved by Hondius. The rest were engraved by Pieter van den Keere and the text was compiled by the respected classic scholar, Petrus Bertius. As such, there does not seem to be a unified label for the authors of this atlas.

The atlas was highly successful and went through approximately 12 different editions up to 1650. The languages on the reverse vary as do the number of maps.

This particular example is an even more interesting variant. For the editions of 1602 and 1603, usually in Latin, Bertius provided a description in classical Greek text. These variants were printed in tiny numbers as Amsterdam did not have ancient Greek letterpress. The plates had to sent to the University of Leiden where this was provided.

This example bears the Greek text on the reverse. Coloured. [WLD4967] [Shirley 211]