Türkiye - « Anatolia or Asia Minor »: the Asian part of Turkey, Cyprus, the islands of the Aegean Sea, and the; Gerard Mercator - Natoliae sive Asia Minor - 1621-1650

Old copper-engraved map of Anatolia (Asia Minor, present-day Turkey) by Mercator, published in 1633 in the Mercator-Hondius atlas.

It shows the Anatolian peninsula, Cyprus and the Aegean archipelago, with numerous towns in vignette, the rivers and the Ottoman provinces.
The title is inscribed in a large cartouche with scrolls, topped by a cherub’s head. A second cartouche provides the scale in German miles and in Italian miles, and a third bears a Latin note about the meridian. A sailing ship with flames navigates the Pontus Euxinus, and a sea monster is depicted south of Cyprus.
The seas are treated with wavy hatchings, and “Bulgaria” and “Mengrecia” are written in large calligraphic letters.

- Dimensions: on sheet: 56 x 47.5 cm; on the plate (map): 46.9 x 35.3 cm
- Condition: Very good overall for a map of this period. Presence of a central vertical fold and very slight soiling. See photos for more details.

Atlas Mercator-Hondius
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The atlas called “Mercator-Hondius” continues the work of Gerard Mercator, whose copperplates were repurchased by Jodocus Hondius in 1604. This French edition of 1633 is signed by his son Henricus Hondius and his son-in-law Joannes Janssonius, who augmented it with new maps.


Gerard Mercator
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Gerard Mercator (Rupelmonde 1512 – Duisburg 1594) was a Flemish cartographer and geographer. He is known for the cartographic projection that bears his name (1569). His atlas, published posthumously in 1595, gave his name to the genre. Jodocus Hondius (1563-1612) acquired his plates in 1604 and published the augmented atlas, which underwent numerous reissues, including the French edition of 1633.