1584 Ortelius Map of Burgundy, France (Wine Regions)
Burgundiae-ortelius-1584
Title
1584 (dated) 15 x 18 in (38.1 x 45.72 cm) 1 : 200000
Description
Ortelius printed approximately 100 copies of this map before making minor changes for a second printing. Over the course of this map's entire run, approximately 5050 were printed in for various versions of the Theatrum, though only one state exists. It is impossible to know how many have survived the subsequent centuries.
Cartographer
Abraham Ortelius (1527 - 1598) was one of the most important figures in the history of cartography and is most famously credited with the compilation of the seminal 1570 atlas Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, generally considered to be the world's first modern atlas. Ortelius was born in Antwerp and began his cartographic career in 1547 as a typesetter for the Antwerp Guild of St. Luke. In this role Ortelius traveled extensively through Europe where he came into contact with Mercator, under whose influence, he marketed himself as a "scientific geographer". In this course of his long career he published numerous important maps as well as issued several updated editions of his cardinal work, the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum. Late in his career Ortelius was appointed Royal Cartographer to King Phillip II of Spain. On his death in July fourth, 1598, Ortelius' body was buried in St Michael's Præmonstratensian Abbey , Antwerp, where his tombstone reads, Quietis cultor sine lite, uxore, prole.