"Orbis Terrae compendiosa descriptio".

Engr., 29 x 52 cm, delicately hand-coloured (central folding, a few small stains, a sm. tear without loss).

Framed.

Extremely rare double hemisphere map by Rumold Mercator, based upon Gerard Mercator’s celebrated 1569 world map and made while Gerard was still alive (1512- 1594).
Isaac Casaubon (1559-1614), a classical scholar, commissioned Rumold to create the map for his publication of Strabo’s "Geographia" (Geneva, Eustathius Vignon, 1587). Examples from this print run have a text underneath with the heading, “Lectori S. P.”: "Duplex veteris & novi orbis globus elegantissimus ac certissimus, impensis Eustathii Vignon editus [...] Geographiam Strabonis [...] Versione Latina emendata ornatam doctissimisque D. Isaaci Casauboni [...]". Later, Rumold's map may have been issued separately; yet the Strabo edition preceded its appearance in the first issue of the Mercator atlas by eight years.
The engraving is executed in a clear, neat style, turning the only acquirable modern world map directly connected to Mercator, into an attractive and unparalleled rarity.
Ref. Van der Krogt I [0001:1A]. - Shirley 157. - Watelet 379. - Karrow 56/17.10.