| Gerard Mercator — Atlas or a Geographicke description of the Regions, Countries and Kingdomes of the World Translated by Henry Hesham |
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Atlas or a Geographicke description of the Regions, Countries and Kingdomes of the World Translated by Henry Hesham |
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MERCATOR, Gerard (1512-1594) and HONDIUS, Jodocus (1563-1612) 2 volumes. Folio (19 x 13 inches). Engraved title-pages with letterpress overslips over titles and one imprint, double-page engraved portrait of Mercator and Hondius, 196 double-page engraved maps, the first five with some hand-colouring in outline (one or two maps shaved, map of Lungeburgh with tape repair just obscuring a portion of the border, some dampstaining in volume two, some edges a bit frayed, occasional browning and a few repaired tears). Modern quarter calf, marbled paper boards (spines faded). Provenance: With the near contemporary inscription of Thomas Huntington (fl. 1645-1656), publisher with T. Jackson, at the sign of the Princes Arms, Duck Lane, recording the sale of these volumes: "December 20th 1656, I do warrant these two Bookes to be perfect & Compleate for which I have received four pounds Sterling. Witness my hand Tho: Huntington", tipped-in before the engraved title-page of volume one; the engraved armorial bookplates of Sir Robert Abdy (1688-1748), 3rd Baronet, of Albyns, Essex, Member of Parliament for Essex (1727-1748), on each paste-down; the ownership inscription of Elijah Hart of Liverpool, dated 1835 on the front paste-down of volume one; the penciled ownership inscription of S.H. Rathbone, M.D. at the head of the title-page of volume one; Christopher Henry Beaumont Pease, Lord Wardington (1924-2005), Library of Important Atlases and Geographies, his sale Sothebys' 10th October 2006, lot 289. The English edition of the Mercator-Hondius Atlas, containing twenty new maps. Numerous other maps have been corrected and improved, and in some cases new vignettes have been added, first published in co-operation with Cornelis Claesz in 1606. "Jodocus Hondius obtained the copper-plates of Mercator's atlases (Ptolemy's "Geographia" and the "Atlas") on 12 July 1604. He probably bought them at Leiden at the auction of Mercator's library, then in the possession of his grandson, Gerard Mercator, Jr. A partly new text to the maps was written by Petrus Montanus after [Jodocus Hondius's] death, the widow with her seven children continued publishing the atlases under the name of Jodocus Hondius till 1620. The firm was reinforced by the very welcome help of Joannes Jansonius (1588-1664), who married 24-year-old Elizabeth Hondius in 1612. After 1619 the Atlas was published under the name of Henricus Hondius [Jodocus Hondius's son] (Koeman). From the distinguished library of Lord Wardington whose collection of Atlases was unique: "a panoply of the history of cartography and of great mapmakers" (Andrew Phillips "An Appreciation", Sotheby's sale catalogue). Koeman II, Me 41A and 41B (v2); van der Krogt 1:341.1a and 1:341.2B. |
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