United Kingdom - Kingdom of England and Wales; Gerard Mercator - Anglia regnum - 1621-1650

Ancient copper-engraved map of England and Wales by Mercator, hand-enhanced, published in 1633 in the Mercator-Hondius atlas.

It shows England and Wales divided into counties, outlined in yellow, pink, green, and orange. The relief is depicted in profile and the seas are dotted. Coastal toponyms are engraved perpendicular to the shore.
The title cartouche “Anglia regnum” is adorned with a mascaron and a scallop shell, and above the scale in English miles (“Miliaria Anglica parua”). A three-masted, colored galleon sails in the North Sea off Norfolk and Suffolk. The names of the seas are written in calligraphic letters: Oceanus Germanicus, Mare Vergivium, Mare Hibernicum, and Oceanus Britannicus.
In the lower left, a numbered legend (“Nomina Cassiteridum”) details the Isles of Scilly.

The outline extends to the east of Ireland, to the Isle of Man, to Anglesey, to the south of Scotland, and to the coastlines of Zeeland, Flanders, and northern France.

Descriptive French text on the verso (“Angleterre”, pp. 117 and 120).

- Dimensions: sheet: 56 x 47.5 cm; map plate: 46.9 x 35.3 cm
- Condition: Good overall for a map of this period. Presence of a vertical central crease, some browning, and minor stains. See photos for details.

Atlas Mercator-Hondius
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The atlas known as “Mercator-Hondius” continues the work of Gerard Mercator, whose copper plates were acquired 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 expanded it with new maps.

Gerard Mercator
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Geographer, mathematician and Flemish cartographer, born in Rupelmonde in 1512 and died in Duisburg in 1594. He studied in Leuven. He is known for his terrestrial and celestial globes, and for his world map of 1569 in the cylindrical projection, the so-called “Mercator projection.” Based in Duisburg from 1552, he assembled a large collection of maps there. His son Rumold published the complete atlas in 1595, the year after his death. Jodocus Hondius bought the copper plates in 1604 and issued many editions. Those from the 1630s were published in Amsterdam by his heirs.