First published in Dutch in 1583–1584 as ‘Spieghel der Zeevaerdt’, the oversized map of Europe in this edition is in the first state, showing a circular Iceland. By 1589, the Amsterdam publisher Jean Bellere was given royal privilege from Philip II to publish the work in Latin, Dutch, Spanish and French.

This copy of Waghenaer’s 'Speculum Nauticum' ('Mariner’s Mirror') includes forty-five double-page engraved charts and three full-page engraved text illustrations. The maps focus on the coastal profile of western Europe and chart a path that begins in Enkhuizen (Waghenaer’s birth city) and moves down the coast to Gibraltar. The route then travels back north and then around the south and east coasts of England. The maps then show a route along the southern tip of the Scandinavian peninsula going towards Russia’s eastern borders, and then back down to the Netherlands. On the verso of the first folio of each double-page chart are sailing instructions that include commercial information such as trends in imports and exports.

Engraved allegorical title page to the first part, title page with woodcut border to the second part, ‘Ad lectorem’, without dedication (as often); forty-five double-page engraved charts with fine contemporary hand-colour in full, three full-page engraved text illustrations.

This wonderfully illustrated, richly coloured work is the earliest European printed sea atlas. It was created by Lucas Janszoon Waghenaer who brought together for the first time detailed information from manuscripts, rutters, and ships’ logs, which he systematised and illustrated with informative and beautifully engraved charts. Waghenaer standardised and updated the pictorial silhouettes traditionally used by pilots, drew compass roses and lines of navigational direction, and included soundings to help navigators. 

Subsequent charts of the European coastline were based on Waghenaer’s work for at least a century. They were called after him ‘waghenaers’ or ‘waggoners’ in English and ‘chartiers’ in French. The demand for Waghenaer’s charts required translations for foreign pilots, of which this Latin version was the first.

Waghenaer is regarded as the most important figure of the Dutch school of cartography. Marine cartography was, before Waghenaer, dominated by Portuguese and Spanish makers, who worked under a monopolized system that regarded their navigational information as national secrets. Waghenaer importantly amalgamated information from Portuguese 'roteiros' (sketches of the coast) with his own observations at sea, which characterised a turning point in Dutch cartography, also because his work was the first folio-sized nautical atlas. 

West Europe, The Atlantic, North Sea and the Mediterranean Sea

Title page to the first part

Diagram of the points of the compass

Compass rose design for navigation

The North Sea

North Sea around Flanders

The sea around Normandy and Flanders

The seas around England

The seas around Brittany 

The sea from Poictou to Bordeaux

Biscay, Spain

Biscay, Spain 2

Biscay, Spain 3

Biscay, Spain 4

Galicia, Spain

Galicia, Spain 2

Galicia, Spain 3

Ports of Galicia, Spain

Ports of Galicia, Spain 2

Algarve, Portugal

Andalusia, Spain

Cornwall and the English Channel 

English Channel 

Title page to the second part

North Sea map 1

North sea map 2

North sea map 3

North sea map 4

North sea map 5

Norwegian seas

Coast of Norway

Scandinavian seas 

Coast of Sweden 

Coast of Finland 

Coast of Livonia 

Coast of Livonia 2

Coast of Courland 

Coast of Prussia 

Pomerania

Mekelen Borch, Belgium

Coast of Zeeland 

The Netherlands 

German seas

German seas 2

Groeningen

A fine example of the first Latin edition of the earliest printed sea atlas; complete, with fine contemporary hand-colour in full.

Two parts in one volume, folio, contemporary vellum gilt, repairs to upper corners.