Germania inferior id est, XVII Provinciarum eius novae et exactae Tabulae Geographicae, cum luculentis singularum descriptionibus additis a Petro Montano.

Large folio: [8 incl. engr. title]-94-[3] pp.; 25 maps (central foldings often split, in particular of Leo Belgicus and Flandriae Comitatus, marginal dampstains, sm. repairs, some pl. partly detached from guards).

Contemp. vellum (notes in pen and black ink, undulated and used).

Complete second Latin edition of the first atlas exclusively devoted to the Seventeen Provinces (1st ed.: 1617). Petrus Kaerius or Pieter van den Keere (1571- ca.1646), in order to compile this edition, invited the Ghent-born Petrus Montanus or Van den Berghe (1560-1625) to write the accompanying text to his maps. Montanus was married to a sister of Jodocus Hondius senior, who was in turn also Kaerius' brother-in-law. The work comprises: a finely engraved title with an allegorical representation of the atlas production featuring the invention of printing and navigation, the weapons of the XVII Provinces, and a skull on a watch in the middle of some elaborately dressed people functioning as a vanitas motif; furthermore, there is a history plate with local customs and 24 maps on double pages with decorative cartouches including small town views and nice city plans of Zipa, Beemstra, Antwerp etc. For this second edition the text was entirely reset; "Flandriae pars orientalior" (pl. 10) was replaced by the "Caerte van t'Vrije" by C.J. Visscher while the map "Typus Frisiae orientalis", now with text on the verso, is bound at the end. This atlas contains the famous Leo Belgicus map (2nd state) of the lion rampant facing right by Hendrik van Langren (1573-1609) which Kaerius already inserted in the 1617 edition. In this copy Montanus' "Lectori Salutem" precedes Kaerius' introduction. When, in the early 1620s, the printing business made loss, Kaerius' copperplates ended up in the hands of Claes Janszoon Visscher.
Ref. Koeman Kee-2. - van der Heijden 2006, 4.2.
Prov. Handwritten ownership's entries, i.a. "N. Seghers (?) 1676"; "Musei ss. Antverpiae" (S.J. Antwerp); "Kneydt Herenthals" (19th c.).