Italy - Friuli, Carniola, Lower Styria in Slovenia, the Knarner Islands; Gérard Mercator - Forum Iulium Karstia Carniola Histria et Windorum Marchia - 1621-1650

An old copper-engraved map hand-tinted from Friuli, Istria, Carniola and the March of the Vendes by Mercator, published in 1633 in the Mercator-Hondius atlas.

It shows a large cut-leather style cartouche, colored in red, blue-green and yellow, bearing the Latin title and Mercator's signature.
The relief is drawn in perspective, with wooded ranges and Lake Cerknica, accompanied by a legend on its resurgences.
The Gulf of Trieste and the Kvarner are stippled, with the Venetian Lagoon to the left and the islands of Cherso, Veglia and Arbe to the right. The towns are depicted by small circles or vignettes. The word “VENETI” is traced in calligraphic letters in the Adriatic.

- Dimensions: on the sheet: 56 x 47.5 cm; on the copper plate (map): 46.9 x 35.3 cm
- Condition: Very good overall for a map of this period. Presence of a central vertical crease, light soiling, and some browning. 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 bought 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 added new maps to it.

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 studied with Gemma Frisius there. He produced the 1541 terrestrial globe and the 1551 celestial globe, then a map of Europe in 1554. Based in Duisburg, he presented in 1569 his world map with a conformal cylindrical projection, still used today. His atlas appeared in parts (1585, 1589), then in full in 1595, published after his death by his son Rumold. Jodocus Hondius acquired the copperplates in 1604, and the atlas was reissued in numerous editions, including the 1633 one.