Fine old color example of Gerard de Jode's map of Northern Germany and Western Poland.
The North Sea is adorned by a fish and the Baltic Sea by a sailing ship, and the borders of Schleswig-Posen-Dresden-Groningen are featured.
The map is based on Christian Sgrothen's manuscript atlas of the region and was engraved by Johannes van Deutecum.
Gerard De Jode (1509-1591) was a pre-eminent mapmaker in the late seventeenth century, a time when the Dutch dominated the map trade. He was known for his many maps, some of which featured in Speculum Orbis Terrae (first edition Antwerp: 1578). Although never as successful as Ortelius’ Theatrum, the Speculum did get republished in a second edition in 1593, two years after De Jode’s death, by Arnold Coninx, and included this map. After his death, Gerard’s son, Cornelis (1568-1600), and his wife, Paschina, ran the shop. Unfortunately, Cornelis died young in 1600, aged only 32, and the stock and plates were sold to the publisher Joan Baptista Vrients.