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World. QUAD, M. [Cologne, 1600] Typus Orbis Terrarum, Ad Imitationem Gerhardi Mercatoris... 8 ½ x 12 ¼ inches. Strong impression, margins close but no loss, excellent condition. Matthias Quad was a well-traveled and accomplished cosmographer and geographer. Born in the Netherlands in 1557, he likely became familiar with the work of Ortelius, De Jode and Mercator in his early years there. He became acquainted with the illustrious Doetechum family of engravers in his home town of Deventer. He was further schooled in Germany and settled in Cologne. He worked with many in the flourishing printing trade there, most notably under Franz Hogenberg. Shirley 197; Bonacker, Theatrum Orbis Terrarum Series of Facsimiles Atlases vol. VI, Quad.
Strong example of a finely engraved, early world map, that was a reduced version of Mercator’s 1569 wall map of the world, the first to use the projection bearing Mercator’s name. Quad added the figure of Christ in an oval medallion and a quotation from Cicero along the bottom - “For what can seem important in human affairs to someone who is aware of all eternity and the size of the whole world?” Quad seems to be here trying to place the great advances in geographic knowledge of the period within a Christian context.
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