Orbis Terrarum, the very first atlas in modern history, is an anthology of maps. It's made into a folio for a more convenient studying of the world maps. The author and cartographer, Ortelius, painstakingly gathered data from his contemporaries and other now rare sources.
The atlas, also called Theatrum, was released in the 16th century, a time when cartographers all over the world are striving to make a definitive and accurate maps. Even before Theatrum, several European and exploration maps were already published. Needless to say, there was confusion as to the real authors or discoverers of countries and continents. But when Theatrum appeared, everything seemed finally settled. Printing companies reproduced copies of Theatrum using copper plates. For forty-two years, Theatrum flooded the market.
The foreword of Theatrum contained acknowledgment of some of the influential cartographers like Mercator, Gastaldi, Gutierez, and Magnus. I wonder if it also mentioned
famous world sailors and explorers. The most famous Ortelius map is the Asian wall map which is adapted from the version created by Gastaldi. All the printed volumes of Theatrum have uniform structure. Their title pages contain allegories depicting the continents as goddesses. Also included are verses by Mekerchus, Ortelius' portrait, Mercator's recommendation letter, sources, table of indexes, nomenclature, treatise and colophon.
