The final lifetime Latin edition of Cornelis Claesz's famous Caert-Thresoor, one of the greatest Dutch pocket atlases ever produced.
This atlas includes an impressively diverse complement of maps: 2 world maps, 1 map of the heavens, 113 maps of Europe, 16 maps of Africa, 27 maps of Asia, 15 maps of America. Of particular note are the separate map of the Philippines, and the map Terra Nova (Canada) after the Plancius of the North Atlantic. The final maps in the atlas are wonderful as well. The third-to-last map is a wonderful pre-Le Maire rendering of the Strait of Magellan following Linschoten's map of South America. The second-to-last is a map of New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. The last map atlas "Ins. Vaygats" shows the discoveries of Linschoten's second voyage (1595) in search of the Northeast Passage.
The work is varyingly credited to Barent Langenes and Cornelis Claesz, as both had important roles in its production. The maps themselves were engraved by Van Der Keere and Jodocus Hondius.
Schilder (page 464), notes of the Latin edition:
[F]or the Latin edition, the production again took place in Amsterdam, though this time in collaboration with a publisher in Arnhem, Jan Jansz. For that edition, the scholar Petrus Bertius (1565-1629) made a completely new geographical description of the whole world. Moreover, the maps then served as illustrations, unlike previous editions in which the text was meant to explain the maps.
The Latin Bertius edition was first published in 1600, with a subsequent edition in 1602-3, and the present final edition in 1606. The third edition includes a more extensive treatment of Spain. Interestingly, Claesz had originally asked Paullus Merula to translate the Caert-Thresoor into Latin, and surprisingly, Merula refused. Among other objections, Merula disliked that the maps in the early editions of the Caert-Thresoor lacked any indication of latitude and longitude.
Koeman (Lan 7) says the image of Baixos de Iudia should be lacking in this edition, though here it is present on page 300. The other two engravings said to be lacking from this edition, of the Escurial and 't Huis de Britten are not present.
Petrus Bertius was a Flemish historian, theologian, geographer, and cartographer. Known in Dutch as Peter de Bert, Bertius was born in Beveren. His father was a Protestant preacher and his family fled to London around 1568. The young Bertius only returned to the Low Countries in 1577, to attend the University of Leiden. A bright pupil, Bertius worked as a tutor and was named subregent of the Leiden Statencollege in 1593. He ascended to the position of regent in 1606, upon the death of the former regent, who was also Bertius’ father-in-law. However, due to his radical religious views, he eventually lost his teaching position and was forbidden from offering private lessons.
His brothers-in-law were Jodocus Hondius and Pieter van den Keere, who were both prominent cartographers. Bertius began his own cartographic publishing in 1600 when he released a Latin edition of Barent Langenes’ miniature atlas Caert Thresoor (1598). He published another miniature atlas that first appeared in 1616.
By 1618, Bertius was named cosmographer to Louis XIII. He converted to Catholicism and took up a position as professor of rhetoric at the Collège de Boncourt (University of Paris). In 1622, Louis XIII created a chart of mathematics specifically for Bertius and named him his royal historian. He died in Paris in 1629.
Barent Langenes was a Dutch publisher and engraver at the turn of the seventeenth century. He worked in Middleburg, Netherlands. He is best known for his publication of Petrus Bertius’ Caert-Thresoor in 1598. This pocket world atlas was small, printed in the vernacular, and was more affordable than folio-sized competitors, allowing more people to own and use atlases. The atlas was a commercial success and was printed twelve times in Dutch, French, Latin, and German editions between 1598 and 1650, although Langenes was most likely only involved in the first two Dutch editions (1598 and 1599).