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Description

Rare map of Zeelandia and northernmost Belgium, which originally appeared in Lucas Waghenaer's Spieghel der Zeevaerdt, the world's first-ever sea atlas.

The map shows the coastline of the central Low Countries, depicting the many flat-lying islands of this region. The map is focused primarily on navigational detail, with soundings, sandbanks, anchorage points, and harbors all shown.

Numerous cities and towns are named, including Bruges, and the mouth of the all-important River Spiegel is visible. In the upper right, four coastal plans are shown. Highly decorative, the map includes several sailing ships and sea monsters, four coats of arms, a compass rose, and a title cartouche.

Spieghel der Zeevaerdt

The "Mirror of the Seafarer," as this title translates to, represents the first-ever printed sea atlas. Prepared by Lucas Waghenaer, a seafarer and pilot from northern Holland, the work included forty-one maps and charts of areas around Europe, with more maps in later editions.

The book was published by Plantin using Ortelius's Theatrum and Braun and Hogenberg's Civitates as indications of what an atlas should look like. The maps were engraved between 1583 and 1585, and contain varying dates, with the Dutch edition of the first part of the text appearing in 1584. This was followed by a Latin edition in 1586, with various other editions appearing until 1605.

Condition Description
Minor thumbing in lower right. Text on verso is Latin. Lacks plate number (as in all pre-1588 editions).