Hondius, Jodocus the Elder

Hondius family: flourished 16th–17th century as engravers, globe-makers, and publishers.
Jodocus the Elder (1563–1612) began learning engraving at eight, in Belgium, moved to London in 1583 and married Colette van den Keere (sister of Pieter). In 1593 he moved to Amsterdam to set up an engraving workshop, and moved into bookselling. In 1604 he acquired Mercator’s atlas plates, added to them, and re-issued “Atlas” in 1606, from then on known as the Mercator-Hondius Atlas. In 1607 he created, along with Johannes Janssonius and Cornelius Claesz, a reduced-size version: “Atlas Minor” with Latin text and 152 maps. Eight more editions were published, with varying numbers of maps, in, German, French or Latin. He also created “Nova et exacta totius orbis terrarum descriptio” in 12 sheets. After his death in 1612, the business was continued by his widow, and by his sons Henricus (1597– 1651) and Jodocus the Younger (1594–1629), and by his son-in-law Johannes Janssonius II.