Attractive Early Atlas of Euopre by Matthias Quad
With 53 Engraved Maps
With an elaborate architectural border on the engraved title page, portrait and arms of Philipp Cratz von Scharffenstein engraved by Johan Sadeler dated 1587. 53 maps of all parts of Europe engraved by Johann Bussemecher or Quad, many with medallion portraits of respective sovereigns.
The present example is a variant of the 1594 edition (which is described by Meurer and others as having 50 maps). In the present copy there are 53 maps: the three additional maps are: Silesia, Westphaliae totius, and Belgia. Interestingly, the three maps are numbered here with "bis" numbering (the convention based on the Latin "bis" meaning "twice" or "again"), suggesting their late introduction to the atlas: 6b. Silesia; b22 [i.e. 22b] Westphalia totius; and 23b. Belgia. Based on the detailed listings in Meurer, two of these three extra maps would be replaced with different maps by the time the 1596 edition: the map of Silesia would become designated no. 8; another version of Westphalia totius would appear as no. 25; and another version of Belgium would appear as no. 31.
The maps, mostly reduced versions of Ortelius' maps, are here in nice dark impressions.
The maps are as follows:
- Europa
- Germania
- Helvetia
- Bohemia
- Austria
- Moravia
- Silesia
- Prussia
- Brandenburg
- Saxonia
- Misnia
- Mansfeldia
- Franconia
- Svevia
- Salisburgum
- Bavaria
- Alsatia Superior
- Alsatia Inferior
- Palatinatus Rheni
- Hassia
- Brunsuicum
- Waldeck
- Westphalia
- Westphalia Totius
- Treveris
- Belgia
- Geldria
- Groningensis
- Frisia
- Hollandia
- Zelandia
- Brabantia
- Flandria
- Namurcum
- Lucenburgium
- Artesia
- Anglia
- Scotia
- Hispania
- Portugallia
- Francia
- Leodiensis Episcopatus
- Lotharingia
- Burgundiae Ducatus
- Italia
- Sicilia
- Graecia
- Sclavonia, Bosnia, Croatia, Dalmatia
- Hungaria
- Polonia
- Oswieczensis et Zatoriensis Ducatus
- Dania
- Diethmarsia
Matthias Quad (1557-1613), a map publisher based in Cologne, was trained in the Netherlands by Johannes van Doetecum, who also worked with the De Jodes. Quad used many De Jode maps as a base to which he added additional information and decorations. Quad was best known for his atlases, which were part of the first boom in atlases best characterized by Abraham Ortelius’ Theatrum Orbis Terrarum. In 1592, Quad released an atlas of Europe that had 38 maps. He expanded it in 1594 to 50 maps. In 1600, he expanded the collection of maps further still, this time to 82 maps, and called the atlas, Geographisch Handtbuch. All three were small in size, allowing them to compete as cheaper alternatives to the larger atlases of Ortelius, Mercator, and the De Jodes. Quad released one other atlas, in 1608, with 86 maps, the Fascilus Geographicus.