Typus Orbis Terrarum.

Ortelius’s third and last world map, published in his Theatrum Orbis Terrarum and inscribed on the lower right hand side of Terra Australis Nondum Cognita; Ortelius describ. cum privilegio decennali. 1587.

This Dutch text edition of this map is often incorrectly date as being 1589. Ortelius published numerous editions of his maps and atlases which required the text on the verso to be reformatted to accomodate the different word lengths of various languages. The dating of his maps is deduced primarily from the text on the verso which identifies the language, the page number and the alignment of the text on the sheet.

This Dutch text edition first appeared in the 1589 edition of the Theatrum with only twenty five copies printed. Ortelius then issued it again in 1610 and 1613 with any changes to the cartography. Additionally all three editions have the same details on the verso; page number 1 at lower right, Gothic text with the last line, centred like the 2 lines above it which reads; maken dit hebben wy hier alleene int corte aenwysen willen. Given that only 25 copies of the 1589 were printed and which most are accounted as being in institutional collections, it is probable that any example of this map is from either the 1610 or 1613 edition of the atlas. As a consequence we have dated the map accordingly.

Four medallions decorate each corner and feature quotes by the classical Roman statesmen Cicero and Seneca. The border of clouds included on Ortelius’s earlier world maps has been replaced by a more intricate and elegant lattice of strapwork and swag. Many of the new place names appearing along the North American west coast were provided to Ortelius by Richard Hakluyt on the basis of recent explorations. A bulge in South America which appeared in his previous world map, has now been corrected and the Solomon Islands are marked for the first time. The land of Beach is shown and above it lays the land of Java Major , the name given by Marco Polo to the island of Java. Like the influential mapmaker Plancius, Ortelius shows the landmass Terra Sept Emtrionalis Incognita at the north pole separated by narrow straits from the continents of Europe, Asia and North America. Plancius was the pre-eminent Dutch mapmaker of the period and a leading advocate of a northern passage to the East. He was to become the first VOC chartmaker in 1602. New Guinea is shown as an island, although Ortelius includes a note at lower left below the word Noua Guinea stating, ‘Noua Guinea nuper inuenta qu an sit insula an pars continentis Australis incertest’ [New Guinea, recently discovered. Whether this is an island or part of the Southern continent is uncertain]. In the lower right of the map in the provinces of Beach is written: ‘Vastiimas hic ee | regiones ex M Pauli Ven:et | Lud.Vartomann. scriptis pe: | regrationibus constat’. [These regions are very extended, as can be seen in the writings of Paulus Venetus and the travels of Ludovicus Vartomannus] (Varthema). Further towards the centre in Terra Australis Incognita, a note explains: Psitacorum regio | sic a Lusitanis appellata ob | incredibilem earum auium ibidem magnitudem. [This region is called ‘of the Psitaci’ by the Portuguese because of the incredible number of birds of the same size]. The Theatrum included a section called Catalogus Auctorum, which listed the thirty-three cartographers referred to by Ortelius and the eighty-seven geographers known to him at the time. The sources for this map were the world maps by Gastaldi 1561, Mercator 1569 and Gutierrez’s portolan map of the Atlantic 1562. Ortelius also mentions the world maps of Petrusab Aggere, Apianu, Sebastian Cabotus, Laurentius Fries, Gemma Frisius, Doco ab Hemminga Frisius, Jodocus Hondius, Orontius Finaeus and Petrus Planicus.