The Atlas
Investment Portfolio is offering an
opportunity to purchase a unique
collection of
original and rare antique atlases by the four greatest mapmakers of all
time
known as “The Golden Age of Cartography” 1550 –1675.
This period
dominated mainly by the Dutch
produced fine
detailed maps of all parts of Britain, Europe and the other parts of
the “know
world” at that time. The maps were
beautifully illustrated and hand coloured with native figures, foreign
towns,
indigenous animals, birds and plants as well as the odd monster that
would be
the fist images of these discovered new lands.
Single
atlases occasionally appear at auction for sale
however an opportunity to acquire a complete collection in good
condition is
exceptional, scarce and represents true investment potential.
The Golden Age
of Cartography
1550-1675
Historians of
cartography call this period 1550 to 1675 as the “The
Golden Age of Cartography” or “The Golden Age of Dutch Cartography”. The honorary Dutch title relates tp
the
fact that the Dutch dominated the commercial cartography at that time. There were other maps produced elsewhere in
Europe including John Speed (see linked page), but these were not
traded
worldwide to the same extent as the Dutch. The
father of Dutch cartography is often considered to be
the Flanders
born, Gerald Mercator 1512-1594, (see linked page), considered himself
more a cosmographer than
map-seller. In 1570 the Antwerp
cartographer Abraham Ortelius, (see linked page) published his
life’s work,
the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum (Theatre of the World).
This work is considered the first modern atlas and was the
most
expensive book of its time. Ortelius,
although not the most prolific was the first to redraw and present all
his maps
in one single format that was the first ever to use the term “Atlas”. This format was to remain the standard for
all atlas production well into the
nineteenth
century.
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