Crimée - Ukraine, southwest of Russia, Belarus, Moldova, and southeast of Romania; Gerard Mercator - La Crimée - Gravure sur cuivre, coloris d'époque - Gerard Mercator - 1621-1650

Copper engraving from an old map of Crimea and the Black Sea, hand-colored, by Mercator, published in 1633 in the Mercator-Hondius atlas.

It shows the Crimean Peninsula, named Taurica Chersonesus, with the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. The cartouche, in the upper right, bears the title and the indication Nostra aetate Przecopsca et Gazara dicitur. It is framed by a decorative border of scrollwork highlighted in blue, pink, and gold. The courses of the Dnieper, Don, and Danube are drawn with their tributaries.
The relief is depicted in perspective, and the forests are drawn tree by tree. The map is surrounded by a border graduated in latitude and longitude. The towns are numerous, notably Kiev, Smolensk, Moscow, Caffa, and Perekop.
Regions are designated under their names of the time: Lithuania, Podolia, Moldavia, Russia, and Tartary. A scale in German miles appears at the bottom.

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

Atlas Mercator-Hondius
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The atlas known as “Mercator-Hondius” reproduces 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.

Gerard Mercator
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Gerard Mercator (Rupelmonde, 1512 – Duisburg, 1594) was a Flemish cartographer, geographer, and engraver. Trained in Leuven, he produced a terrestrial globe there in 1541, then settled in Duisburg. In 1569, he developed the projection that bears his name. His Atlas was published posthumously in 1595 by his son Rumold. Jodocus Hondius bought the plates in 1604 and continued the edition in Amsterdam, with Henricus Hondius, who signs the address of 1627 carried on this map.