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This fine beautifully
hand coloured
original antique map a birds-eye
view of
the German cities of
Weimar, Jena, Erfurt, Gotha and Fulda all in the state
of Thuringia, was published by Georg Braun
& Frans Hogenberg for the 1575 atlas of town plans
Civiates Orbis Terrarum Vol II (1572-1612) intended as a
companion to Abraham Ortelius's master Atlas Theatrum
Orbis Terrarum published in 1570.
Background of Civitates
Orbis Terrarum
The first volume of the Civitates
Orbis Terrarum was published in Cologne in 1572. The sixth and the final volume
appeared in 1617.
This great city atlas, edited by Georg Braun and largely engraved by Franz
Hogenberg, eventually contained 546 prospects, bird-eye views and map views of
cities from all over the world. Braun (1541-1622), a cleric of Cologne, was the
principal editor of the work, and was greatly assisted in his project by the
close, and continued interest of Abraham Ortelius, whose Theatrum Orbis Terrarum
of 1570 was, as a systematic and comprehensive collection of maps of uniform
style, the first true atlas.
For a variety of reasons town plans were comparatively
latecomers in the long history of cartography. Few
cities in Europe in the middle ages had more than 20,00
inhabitants and even London in the late Elizabethan
period had only 100-150,000 people which in itself was
probably 10 times that of any other English city. The
Nuremberg Chronicle in 1493 included one of the first
town views of Jerusalem, thereafter, for most of the
sixteenth century, German cartographers led the way in
producing town plans in a modern sense. In 1544
Sebastian Munster issued in Basle his Cosmographia
containing roughly sixty-six plans and views, some in
the plan form, but many in the old panorama or birds eye
view. (Ref: Tooley; M&B)
Condition Report:
Paper thickness and quality: - Heavy and stable
Paper color: - off white
Age of map color: - Early
Colors used: - Green, blue, red, yellow
General color appearance: - Authentic
Paper size: - 21 1/2in x 16in (545mm x 410mm)
Plate size: - 18 1/2in x 14in (470mm x 355mm)
Margins: - Min 1/2in (12mm)
Imperfections:
Margins: - Light soiling in top margin
Plate area: - None
Verso: - None | 
