A Fine Original Color Example.  Ortelius' classic early image of Africa:  Africae Tabula Nova Edita Antverpiae 1570.

Original copperplate engraved map
Original Color
374 x 502 mm
Map # AAF-395
$ 4,000

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Geographically, it is a close copy of Gastaldi’s map of 1564 and follows the Ptolemaic view of the Nile.  It generally replaced Sebastian Munster's widely circulated map of Africa.   Ortelius' map was modern in appearance, compared to Munster and others, and remained the standard map of Africa well into the 17^th century (Tooley, p. 88).  The map contains a superb vignette of a naval battle on bottom right, and various sea monsters.  

The Theatrum Orbis Terrarum was the first atlas that produced a uniform series of maps of the world.  The publication of the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum  can be considered the starting point for over 100 years of Dutch supremacy in the production of beautiful maps and atlases.  

Through our recent research, we have identified six states of Ortelius' map of Africa (nb. state 1 and 2 of this map are extremely rare).  We believe this map is from the fifth state of 1595.  In this state. “=” now appears after “OCEANVS | AETHIO” in the Atlantic Ocean.  Also, a slight crack in the copperplate has just started to appear in the title cartouche, running down the right hand sequence of letters. This has evidently occurred during re-working of the plate.  This is reflected in a slight line on the printed map. 

This map is from the 1595 Latin edition of Ortelius Theatrum as published by the Plantin Press.  The verso of the map has page “4” at bottom right.  The 13th line from the bottom ends "habes".  The last last line, left aligned is " ximo,habes litteras Ioannis Baptistæ Rhamusi,& Hieronymi Fracastorij".

References:  Our Research.  van den Broecke reference and map # 8. Tooley’s Guide to Maps of Africa, p 88. Norwich, map # 10.  Krogt, Peter van der. Koeman's Atlantes Neerlandici, vol. 3 (Ortelius). 't Goy-Houten: HES Publishers, 2003.

Rich original color example of this classic map in Very Fine condition.  Strong, clean map impression with no problems to the paper.