The famous sea-monsters map of Iceland

ORTELIUS, Abraham.

Islandia.
Antwerp, 1595, Latin text edition. Original colour with additions. 390 x 490mm.

Split in centre fold repaired.

A very nice example of one of the most famous printed maps, renowned for its depiction of over a dozen exotic sea-monsters (with a key referring to a list on verso), polar bears on iceflows and the volcano Hekla in the interior.
Ortelius based the cartography on a map by Gudbrandur Thorlaksson (1542-1627), Lutheran bishop of Hólar, which was the most accurate up to that time. However he augmented the map with the sea monsters from the very rare woodcut 'Carta Marina' of Scandinavia by Olaus Magnus, 1539.
Ortelius's version first appeared in an atlas in 1587, in the 'Additamentum IV', an appendix of 22 new maps not featured in the last full 'Theatrum Orbis Terrarum'.

VAN DEN BROECKE: 161.
Stock ID : 23343