1595 Ortelius Prussia: First Atlas Edition

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. Learn More...

Caspar Hennenberger (1529 – February 29, 1600) was a German Lutheran pastor, historian and cartographer. He was born in Erlich, in Thüringen; he started his studies in Lutheran divinity at the University of Königsberg in 1550, and he would work for nearly thirty years as a Lutheran Pastor. His scholarship apparently reached beyond divinity, however: with the support of his patron Duke Albert of Prussia, and the aid of Prussian mathematician Nicolaus Neodomus, Hennenberger would produce, and in 1576 publish, the first detailed map of Prussia. He accompanied that work with several books amplifying on the map. Hennenberger's map would be well received: Abraham Ortelius would adopt Hennenberger's map as a model, replacing the outdated map derived from Heinrich Zell's 1542 work. Learn More...