One of the Most Unusual Editions of Ortelius Ever Produced and One of the Last Atlases Illustrated with Woodcuts.
Fine example of Zacharias Heyns's Miroir du Monde, likely the "Epitome" (miniature atlas inspired by the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum) that deviates the most from Ortelius's original work.
Heyns, whose father authored the text for Phillip Galle's 1579 Epitome, makes a number of interesting choices for his atlas. Most obviously, his maps are all woodcuts, which was very unusual at the end of the 16th century. Alongside later editions of Munster's Cosmographia, this was one of the last atlases to be illustrated with woodcuts, and not engraved plates. The origins of Heyns's woodblocks remain mysterious, with Koeman suggests that they were produced in c. 1580, in Germany.
In addition, and perhaps most curiously, Heyns did not use Ortelius's collation or even all of his maps as a model. While some of the maps are clearly copied from Ortelius, including the map of the Americas, many are not. Shirley suggests that the world map emulates cartography from the 1560s, with its lozenge-shaped South America, neglecting later developments. Further distancing himself from Ortelius, Heyns also includes city maps of Cadiz, Brittenberg, Gives (on the Meuse), and a depiction of the castle in Rome.
For all the reasons highlighted above, this is one of the most distinctive works of the 16th century. It would also prove to be very short-lived in its distribution: the same year it was published, Barent Langene's massively popular Caert-threesor was released. With the backing of the Claesz publishing empire, its larger size, and copperplate-engraved maps, Heyns's homespun work could not compete with Langene. In 1599, Heyns released a reduced version of the atlas, focusing on the Netherlands, and the world atlas had a second edition in 1615, when it was published by Jan Janssen of Arnhem.
The numbering of this atlas, as always, starts with page 16, signed "A&E." Van der Krogt states that Heyns must have planned to include a lengthy introduction at the start of the work and printed the maps with this in mind. However, he evidently never completed this project, and no copies of the introduction are known.
Rarity
Rarebookhub lists only two examples of this work appearing at auction in the past fifteen years, once in the Netherlands and once in Germany.
Zacharias Heyns as a map maker in Amsterdam. His works are rare. His most notably work was his edition of Ortelius' miniature atlas, Le Miroir du Monde, ou, Epitome du Theatre d'Abraham Ortelius, which included 80 maps and was published in Amsterdam.