Theatrum Orbis Terrarum.

Folio: [8 incl. engr. title]-53 (i.e. 53 hand-coloured maps)-[31] ff. (some text ff. sl. age-toned, very few sm. spots throughout, sm. marg. hole in text f. b3, maps of Flanders and Poland cut short shaving lower edges).

Contemp. calf, gilt decorated covers with large central ornament with later gilt title, old rebacked spine with raised bands, marbled edges (maps hinged on mod. guards, corners restored, 19th-c. marbled pastedowns, later flyleaves, joints and boards sl. rubbed).

Rare second edition (only 1 year after the original ed.), printed at Ortelius' expense by Gillis Coppens van Diest. Complete and unsophisticated copy including the engraved allegorical title with female personifications of the 5 continents and 53 maps, all in first state, delicately engraved by Frans Hogenberg, with Latin text by Ortelius (1527-1598) on verso. The text is identical to the previous ed., but with a different setting, new is the addition of the "Synonymia locorum geographicorum" at the end. Ortelius (1527-1589) considered geography as the "eye of history": this idea must have inspired him to include a list with the authors of the original maps and many other geographers, the "Catalogus auctorum" (with 94 names) which is as a fact one of the major peculiarities of this atlas. His atlas was the main source for geographical knowledge at the end of the 16th c. and its importance cannot be overestimated.
Splendid (modern) hand-colouring, heightened with gold throughout, after the prestigious copy of the Herzogin Anna Amalia Bibliothek in Weimar. The last one being one of only 4 known copies of the 1572 pirate (non-authorised by Ortelius) edition with German text by Johann Koler from Nuremberg. It was coloured and heightened by Georg Marck (or a member of his workshop), one of the most celebrated illuminator-colorists of the 16th c.
Ref. Van der Krogt IIIA [31:002]. - Schneider, Ute - Theatrum Orbis Terrarum Gedruckt Zu Nuermberg Durch Johann Koler Anno MDLXXII. Frankfurt a. M., Wiss. Buchges, 2007 (comparison colouring).
Prov. Counts of Hardegg, Stetteldorf Castle (also known as Juliusburg Castle) (arm. bookpl.).