Catalog Archive
Auction 166, Lot 602

"Insularum Aliquot Maris Mediterranei Descriptio", Ortelius, Abraham

Subject: Mediterranean Islands

Period: 1570 (circa)

Publication: Theatrum Orbis Terrarum

Color: Hand Color

Size:
18.8 x 14.3 inches
47.8 x 36.3 cm
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This is the first state of this splendid composite of six maps of the major islands in the Mediterranean: Sardinia, Sicily, Corfu, Djerba, Elba, and Malta. Each map is beautifully engraved and embellished with a variety of ships including a sinking ship off the coast of Malta where Saint Paul was supposed to have shipwrecked. Latin text on verso, published in either 1570 or 1571.

References: Van den Broecke #141.

Condition: A

On watermarked paper with a hint of soiling, a faint damp stain that just enters map image at top, and some small worm holes in the bottom blank margin.

Estimate: $600 - $750

Sold for: $350

Closed on 2/14/2018

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