This matching set of maps comes from the English edition of Mercator's Atlas Minor, which was published under the title Historia Mundi or Mercators Atlas by Michael Spark and Samuel Cartwright. Included are a map of the Netherlands and four regional maps, each adorned with decorative title cartouche, distance scale, and a moiré patterned sea. English text on verso. Sizes vary slightly.

After acquiring the plates to the 1607 edition of the Mercator/Hondius Atlas Minor, Sparke republished the maps with text translated into English by Wye Saltonstall. Sparke also had 41 additional maps engraved for the Historia Mundi, including two of the maps in this lot, Ultraiectum Dominium and Ditio Transisulana. Most of these maps were copied from Cloppenburg's edition of Atlas Minor and are therefore a bit larger, and some were signed by the engravers Jacob van Langren and Ralph Hall. The imprint of Hall is at bottom right on Ditio Transisulana. These additional maps only appeared in the 1635, 1637 and 1639 editions of the Historia Mundi and are therefore quite scarce.

References: Van der Krogt (Vol. III) #3400:351, 3600:351, 3700:351, 3660:351 (Sparke), & 3800:351 (Sparke).

Condition: A

Crisp impressions with light toning along the edges of the sheets. The two rare, later engraved maps are larger in size and therefore have narrow margins, with <i>Ditio Transisulana</i> trimmed just within the border at right by the bookbinder.