First published separately as ‘Nova Totius Terrarum Orbis Descriptio, ad Exemplar Maioris Edite ab Abrah’ in 1571, the work is based on the large wall map of 

 and is only known in a very few examples. The present map is the fourth state of five, with place names added to the oceans and ‘Terra Incognita’ added to North America. This and the final fifth state, do not have text on the verso and were most likely issued separately by 

.

De Jode intended his ‘Speculum’ to be a direct challenge to Ortelius’s ‘Theatrum Orbis Terrarum’. The two, who made their living partly as map sellers, were competitors and apparently not always on good terms. It has been suggested that Ortelius was responsible for delaying the publication of de Jode’s work by using his extensive contacts to prevent de Jode's atlas being granted the necessary approbations (or privileges), as Ortelius wished to protect his own work. De Jode did not gain all the necessary approbations until 1577, some seven years after the publication of Ortelius’ ‘Theatrum’, the first copies of the ‘Speculum’ being sold at Christophe Plantin's shop in 1579.

Ortelius’ cunning plan would seem to have worked, as Plantin's records suggest that very few copies of the ‘Speculum’ were actually sold. Although sales of de Jode’s work were less than ideal, the work was evidently held in high regard, with several contemporary works citing its importance alongside the atlases of 

This single-sheet map, prepared for publication in 

’s atlas, the 'Speculum Orbis Terrarum’, is a reduction of 

’ eight- sheet world map of 1564, his first cartographical production, which de Jode had himself printed, and which survives in only three examples. De Jode’s map retains many of the features of Ortelius’s wall map, but adds two spheres to the lower corners, one celestial, one terrestrial.

 (1509–1591), was a Netherlandish cartographer, engraver, and publisher who lived and worked in Antwerp. In 1547, de Jode was admitted to the Guild of Saint Luke and began his work as a publisher. He frequently printed the works of other cartographers, including Giacomo Gastaldi's world map in 1555, Jacob van Deventer's map of the Duchy of Brabant in 1558, and 

's eight-sheet world map in 1564. 

Cornelis de Jode (1568–1600), Gerard’s de Jode's son, was not a cartographer but continued his father’s publishing business after studying at Douai and brought out an enlarged edition of the ‘Speculum’, called ‘Speculum Orbis Terrae’ (1593), which 

 had been planning before his death. After Cornelis de Jode died, most of the de Jode stock was bought by Jean Baptista Vrints.

 shows ‘The Whole World, or the Image of the Terrestrial 

 on a Plane’. De Jode created this map for his atlas ‘Speculum Orbis Terrarum’, a direct challenge to 

's primacy among mapmakers. The map is a reduction of Ortelius’s eight-sheet world map, which De Jode had himself engraved. It retains many of the features of this wall map, but adds two spheres to the lower corners: one celestial, one terrestrial. 

The heart-shaped projection used in the map is significant for two reasons. First, it was an attempt by early mapmakers to increase the amount of the Earth's surface that could be displayed on a flat plane, particularly after the recent European 'discoveries' of more remote areas of the globe. Secondly, it represented the human heart and human emotions as distinct from the physical world. The present map is the fourth state of five, with place names added to the oceans and ‘Terra Incognita’ added to North America. This and the final fifth state, do not have text on the verso, and were most likely issued by de Jode separately.

's map is drawn on a cordiform (heart-shaped) projection, which was developed at the beginning of the sixteenth century as a reaction to the European discovery of the Americas and the need for a more effective method of showing the surface of the newly enlarged world on a flat surface. The projection had symbolic as well as practical uses. De Jode was a Calvinist in Antwerp, at a time when the city and the Low Countries were caught in a violent struggle between the Spanish Catholic monarchy and the Protestant uprisings of the Reformation. The world-as-heart was a Renaissance emblem embodying the effect of inner emotions on the physical world, but in the early sixteenth century it developed into a distinctly reformist symbol. Lutheran theologians saw the heart as the seat of human emotion and thus central to understanding scripture. It also demonstrated the insignificance of humanity's pursuit of earthly ambitions compared to the world at large.

’s ‘Speculum Orbis Terrarum’, of this reduction of 

’ eight-sheet world map, which de Jode had himself printed, and which now only survives in three examples. Issued as a direct challenge to Ortelius’s dominance of the atlas trade.

Double-page copperplate engraved cordiform map of the world, blank to verso.

De Jode’s Cordiform Map of the World