Cartographica Neerlandica Background for Ortelius Map No. 160

Plate size: 362 x 486 mm
Scale: 1 : 10,000,000
Identification number: Ort 160 (Koeman/Meurer: 45, Karrow: 1/65, vdKrogtAN: 1200:31).

Occurrence in Theatrum editions and page number:

1570L(AC)45 (225 copies printed) (41 lines; last line, centred like 6 lines above it: Italicè scriptum., one but last line: nec non Nicolao Michaëlis),
1570L(B)45 (100 copies printed) (40 lines, last line, left aligned: eo & Christofero Fiorauante,nec non Nicolao Michaëlis Italicè scriptum.),
1571L45 (275 copies printed) (identical with 1570L(B); last line, left aligned: eo & Christofero Fiorauante,nec non Nicolao Michaëlis Italicè scriptum.),
1571/1573D45 (350 copies printed) (last line, in cursive script, centred like 3 lines above it: "hyse bewaert ende weder thuys-gebracht hadde,ghedanckt.etc".),
1572G45Koler (pasted over p.45 of a 1570L edition; few copies printed) (last line, left aligned, in Gothic script, except for 3 names: ria, Item den Schiffbruch Petri Quirini, von ime /Christophero Fierouante, und Nicolao Michaelis in Italianischer sprach beschrieben.),
1572/1573G45 (225 copies printed) (last line, cursive like the entire text, centred like two lines above it: "vmb das er sie bewart vnd wider vmb haim geholfen,gelobt,&c".),
1572/1574F45 (225 copies printed) (last line, centred like two lines above it: qu'il luy auoir pleu les garder & ramener sain & sauf en leur maison.),
1573L(A)60 (40 copies printed) (version A, (Maritime Museum Rotterdam) has as its title SCANDIA | siue | REGIONES SEPTEN=|TRIONALES. ; last line, centred like 3 lines above it: non Nicolao Michaëlis, Italicè scriptum;
1573L(B)60 (40 copies printed) (version B (UB Amsterdam) has as its title: SCANDIA | siue | REGIONES SEPTEN|TRIONALES. ; last line, centred like 3 lines above it: Fiorauante, necnon Nicolao Michaëlis, Italicè scriptum.),
1574L60 (175 copies printed) (large page number, viz. 11 mm; title: SCANDIA | siue | REGIONES SEPTEN-|TRIONALES. ; last line, centred like 3 lines above it: non Nicolao Michaëlis, Italicè scripta. 29th line from top ends with Insulã ; 10th line from bottom ends with frigidissi-),
1575L60 (100 copies printed) (small page number, viz. 7 mm, last line, centred like 3 lines above it: non Nicolao Michaëlis,Italicè scripta.; 29th line from top ends with Insulam ; 10th line from bottom ends with frigidissi- ; this edition comes in three text versions: one has as its title SCANDIA/siue/REGIONES/SEPTENTRIONALES.; the second has SCANDIA/SIVEREGIONES SEPTEN-/TRIONALES.; the third has SCANDIA/SIVE/REGIONES SEPTEN-/TRIONALES. This last version has as last line, left aligned: chaëlis, Italicèscripta.),
1579L(A)81 (250 copies printed) (last line, left aligned, entire text in cursive script: "Petri Quirini,ab eo & Christofero Fiorauante,nec non Nicolao Michaëlis, Italicè scripta". ; page number 81 positioned below "& nauf" of last text line.),
1579L(B)81 (250 copies printed) (last line, left aligned, entire text in cursive script: "Petri Quirini,ab eo & Christofero Fiorauante,nec non Nicolao Michaëlis, Italicè scripta". ; page number 81 positioned below "scripta" of last text line.),
1580/1589G81 (350 copies printed) (last line, left aligned, partly in Gothic script: "Christophoro Fiorauante" und "Nicolao Michaëlis" in Italianischer Spraach beschriben werden.),
1581F81 (400 copies printed) (last line, left aligned: der & ramener sain & sauf en leur maison.),
1584L90 (750 copies printed) (last line, left aligned, in cursive script like the whole text: "Petri Quirini, ab eo & Christofero Fiorauante,nec non Nicolao Michaëlis,Italicè scripta."),
1587F90 (250 copies printed) (last line, left aligned: net sain&sauf en leur maison.),
1588S90 (300 copies printed) (last line, left aligned: uante,y Nicolas Michaelis escrito en Italiano.),
1592L97 (525 copies printed) (last line, left aligned, in cursive script: "eo & Christofero Fiorauante,nec non Nicolao Michaëlis, Italicè scripta".),
1595L102 (500 copies printed) (last line, left aligned: nica nuper à Dauide Chytræo conscripta & edita.),
1598F103 (525 copies printed) (last line, left aligned: &saufs en leurs maisons.),
1598/1610/1613D71 (100 copies printed) (last line, Gothic script, left aligned: den Bisschop vertrocken hebben;ende Gode dat hyse bewaert ende weder t'huys gebracht hadde gedanckt/etc.),
1601L102 (200 copies printed) (last line, left aligned: nino his adhibenda Historia Saxonica nuper à Dauide Chytræo conscripta & edita.),
1602G105 (250 copies printed) (last line, left aligned, in Gothic script like the entire text: Christophoro Fiorouante/und Nicolao Michaelis in Italianischer Spraach beschriben werden.),
1602S105 (250 copies printed) (last line, full width: lãno 1557. Pero sobre todo conuiene aqui añadir la Historia Saxonica,poco ha escrita, y facada a luz, por Dauid Chytræo.),
1603L105 (300 copies printed) (text, but not typesetting and page number, identical with 1609/1612L; last line, left aligned: nempe 1557. Sed omnino his adhibenda Historia Saxonica nuper à Dauide Chytræo conscripta & edita.),
1606E102 (300 copies printed) (last line, left aligned: to be forgotten.),
1608/1612I114 (300 copies printed) (last line, left aligned: modo aggiunger alle cose predette l'historia di Sassonia poco ha diuolgata , & composta da Dauid Chitreo.),
1609/1612L115 (300 copies printed) (text, but not page number and typesetting, identical with 1603L; last line, left aligned: nempe 1557.Sed omnino his adhibenda Historia Saxonica nuper à Dauide Chytræo conscripta & edita.),
1609/1612/1641S115 (325 copies printed) (last line, left aligned: Chytræo.).

Approximate total number of copies printed: 8175.

States: 160.1 light and small hachuring along coastlines. Misspelling of "Narva" as "Narna" and of "Narva fl." as "Narna fl." The dot over the second i in "Liuoniæ" is missing. The title in the cartouche has no concluding triangular dot.
160.2: between 1570L(A) and 1570L(B) a triangular dot was added after the map title. "Narna" has been changed to "Narua" and and "Narna fl." to "Narua fl.".
160.3: from 1575L onwards stronger, more extended hachuring along coastlines particularly in the Channel. Dot on second i in "Liuoniæ" has now been added.Hebudes/Insulae have a dot added to the first letter of the second word. In Scotland, "Barwyk" without dots has been changed to "Barwÿk" with dots on the y. In Denmark, "Schleswijk" without dots in the second syllable has been changed to "Schleswijk" with dots.
160.4: from 1584L onwards figures and ships re-engraved. The small flags at the very top of the ships two masts are now almost dark on the right hand side. The sphinx figure on top of cartouche now has horizontal stripes on the ornament extending from the root of her wing. The hatching below the sea monster has been changed from vertical to horizontal.
160.5: from 1587 onwards eight names have been added along top right coastline of North Pole island. "Petzorka vulgo" has been added to MARE CONGELATVM, the frozen sea.
160.6: from 1598D onwards entire sea and lake stippling re-engraved and also added behind sea lettering. Where the light stippling used to roughly follow the longitude lines, it is much heavier and of a more random nature now. Many place names have also been re-engraved.
160.7: from 1601L onwards, right edge of plate trimmed because of the damage mentioned below, and new horizontal stripes of 5 mm, where they used to be 7 mm. Frame re-engraved.

Unintentional states due to damage of the plate:
1. In 1579 a vertical crack appears at the edge of the lower left corner of the cartouche which becomes stronger in the course of time.
2. New plate damage to border line upper right next to "Mosa" and "Piesza fl." Slightly visible in 1595L, clearly visible in 1598F.
From 1609 onwards, a chip of 1x3 mm broke off from the upper right corner.
3. In 1641, a large vertical crack had developed in the tail of the sea monster at the lower right corner.

Remarks: When this map appeared it was probably the best one of the Scandinavian area so far. Note the fantasy islands Friesland and St. Brandain. Iceland and Greenland are very distorted and too near.
Surprisingly, some copies from the 1606 English edition, including the TOT Skelton facsimile of this edition, have the untrimmed 160.6 state. Therefore, its prints must have been made possibly before 1601, but most copies of 1606E are trimmed.
Some of the above information is based on Nils Germundsson (personal communication), and also on information provided by Bill Ginsberg (personal communication). We do not agree on all features of the various different states and their dating. Notably, state 3 may or may not in fact be 2 states, the first dating from 1579, the second from 1584. See for an elaborate description of states also William B. Ginsberg (2006) "Printed Maps of Scandinavia and the Arctic 1482-1601", Septentrionalium Press, New York, N.Y., p. 91-110, ISBN-13: 978-0-978900-0-4. The ship occurring on this map is also depicted on the Zelandicarum map (Ort78), but there viewed from a different angle. Most likely, the brothers Johannes and Lucas van Doetecum were the engravers.
This map occurs on two stamps: a stamp issued by the government of Iceland in 1984 worth 40,00 Crowns. A ship to the right of Iceland has been removed to allow for the lettering of ISLAND to be inserted. The other stamp was issued by the Faeröer in 1975, and is much more stylized and less detailed and also smaller than the Iceland one.

Cartographic sources: many. Magnus 1539, Zeno 1561, Jenkinson 1562, Mercator 1564, 1569, (Karrow 56/17, p. 392, Meurer p. 36). Brandmair mentions Ziegler 1532.

References: Tooley (1978) "Maps and Map-makers" p. 127. Also: M. Spies: "Humanist Conceptions of the Far North in the Works of Mercator and Ortelius", p. 303-318, in Marcel van den Broecke, Peter van der Krogt and Peter Meurer (eds) (1998) "Abraham Ortelius and the First Atlas", HES Publishers. Philip Burden "The Mapping of North America" (1996) p. 52-53, map 40, who knows only three states. Nils G. Germundson (2003) Die Nordeuropakarte des Abraham Ortelius Septentrionalium Regionum Descriptio, "Cartographica Helvetia" 27: 37-46, as well as Bill Ginsbergs additions and emendations on that article in the book referred to under remarks.

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Bibliographical sources

Topographical names

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