Macédoine, Épire et Achaïe - Continental Greece, the coast of present-day Albania, southwest of present-day North Macedonia; Gérard Mercator - Macedonia, Epirus et Achaia [Macédoine, Épire et Achaïe] - 1621-1650

Old copper-engraved map of Macedonia, Epirus and Achaia (Greece and Albania) hand-enhanced, by Mercator, published in 1633 in the Mercator-Hondius atlas.

There is a leather-cut cartouche bearing the title “Macedonia, Epirus and Achaia,” topped by a skull and placed on the graduated scale “Miliaria Italica communia.”

The map shows Thessaloniki (“Salonichi”), Athens, Thebes, Corinth and the Chalkidiki peninsula with Mount Athos. It also features Euboea (“Negroponte”), Corfu, Lefkada and Cephalonia, as well as the Albanian coast from Shkodër to Vlorë.

Reliefs are depicted in profile; the rivers and localities are named, and the seas are adorned with calligraphic lettering (“Golfo di Venetia,” “Mare Mediterraneo,” “Archipelago”). The frame is graded in latitude and longitude.

- Dimensions: sheet 56 x 47.5 cm; map (plate) 46.9 x 35.3 cm
- Condition: Very good overall for a map of this age. There is a vertical central crease, light staining, two small holes and faint halos along the upper margin. See photos for more details.

Atlas Mercator-Hondius
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The atlas known as “Mercator-Hondius” reprises the work of Gerard Mercator, whose copper plates were bought back 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.

Gérard Mercator
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Gérard Mercator (Gerard de Cremer) was born in 1512 in Rupelmonde (Flanders) and died in 1594 in Duisburg. Trained at the University of Leuven, he worked with Gemma Frisius. He produced the 1541 terrestrial globe and the 1551 celestial globe, then a map of Europe in 1554. Based in Duisburg, in 1569 he presented his world map in the conformal cylindrical projection, still used today. His atlas appeared in parts (1585, 1589) and then in full in 1595, published after his death by his son Rumold. Jodocus Hondius acquired the copper plates in 1604, and the atlas was reissued in many editions, including the 1633 one.