LITHVANIA, c. 1596

c. 1596 Gerard Mercator: “LITHVANIA.” Only his “Chronology” and the “Ptolemaic Geographica” were completed in Mercator’s lifetime. His son, Rumold, completed and published a three-volume Atlas in 1595: “Atlas sive Cosmographicae Meditationes de Fabrica Mundi” in Duisburg – the first time “Atlas” was applied to a bound collection of maps.

After Rumold’s death, plates for the atlas were published in 1602 by Gerard Jr. Following his death in 1604, the stock was bought at auction by Jodocus Hondius, and re-issued for 30 years.