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Sunday, November 22, 2020

Something About Abraham Ortelius

Abraham Ortelius
He who made the measles map.

Normally Thanksgiving boasts some of the busiest travel days, and for those driving you more than likely will need a map. They're all electronic now - maps, that is - but have you given your old atlas a second thought any time recently? Or any map?

Anyway ... Prospero knows the only extant map of the Southern Kingdom was created by Abraham Ortelius, cartographer to King Gorm, and known as the “measles map” for its colorful blotches, pimples, and boils representing the various kingdoms, fiefdoms, and villages ["The Dolphin Cross"; Magic Mirrors, 159].

Abraham Ortelius (1527-98) was a cartographer, geographer, and cosmographer, conventionally recognized as the creator of the first modern atlas. Theatrum Orbis Terrarum ("Theatre of the Orb of the World") is considered to be the first true modern atlas. Written by Ortelius and originally printed in May 1570, it consisted of a collection of uniform map sheets and supporting text bound to form a book for which copper printing plates were specifically engraved. The Ortelius atlas is sometimes referred to as the summary of sixteenth-century cartography.

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