GREECE and the Aegean Sea:  GRAECIA / Per Gerardum Mercatorem

Original copperplate engraved map
Fine Handcolor
365 x 470mm
Map #  E-463
$ Sold

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Another high resolution image, showing all of the margins

Image of the verso of the map
 

Gerard Mercator (1512-1594) was one of the most famous geographers of his time noted for his attention to scientific detail and precision.  His name is familiar to this day.   Jodocus Hondius (1563-1612) was the founder of the famous 17th century Dutch map publishing family.  Hondius, along with sons Jodocus II and Henricus and son-in-law Jan Janssonius, was prominent in Dutch cartography and competed with the emerging Blaeu family map business. 

When Jodocus Hondius acquired the copperplates of the Mercator atlas and decided to re-issue them in 1606, he used this map from the Mercator plates for inclusion in his Atlas sive Cosmographicae......    This map has Latin text on the verso with a signature of "Zzzzzz" and pages 312-313.  (Van Der Krogt, p.698).  This map was completely changed and a new copperplate was engraved and included in the Mercator-Hondius series of atlases by Henricus Hondius from 1636 to c.1680. 

Reference:   Van der Krogt, Peter. Koeman's Atlantes Neerlandici, vol. 1. 't Goy-Houten: HES Publishers,1997.
There are several recent books about Gerard Mercator that we recommend to increase your enjoyment and understanding of Mercator and his maps:  Mercator: The Man Who Mapped the Planet by Nicholas Crane, and The World of Gerard Mercator by Andrew Taylor. 

Very Fine Condition.  Complete, untrimmed margins extend beyond above map image.  Solid paper with no separations.  The map contains an attractive, even age-toning or patina.  The binder's stub remains on the verso of the map.