Introducing the cartographers, thinkers, makers & influential people behind the incredible collection of antique maps, atlases, and objects of Oculi Mundi.

Biographies | Oculi Mundi

References

Battista Agnese is one of the most admired producers of beautiful 

 atlases, although little is known about his life. He worked in Venice, where he most likely operated a studio. His atlases contained nautical and geographical information and were decorated with finely hand-drawn illustrations of allegorical figures, 

, and geographical features, often highlighted in gold. 

 Charles V was among Agnese’s patrons. With the support of his studio, at least one hundred atlases are known to have been produced by Agnese throughout his career. The

The "Harisse Codex" portolan atlas by Agnese

Born in Saxony as Peter Bienewitz, Petrus Apianus was a prolific publisher of mathematical and astronomical texts. Apianus was educated at Leipzig University. His most distinguished patron was 

 Charles V, who commissioned Apianus’ greatest work, the

. This book included twenty-one volvelles, which could theoretically be used to calculate everything from eclipses to the time of a baby’s conception. The 

 made Apianus famous, earning him the positions of Imperial Knight and Imperial Court Palatine in Charles V’s court. Apianus was known for making cosmography accessible to his readers, which can be seen in his earlier text, the 

 (1524). It used interactive paper instruments to explain sixteenth century innovations and ancient knowledge.

Black and white portrait of Petrus Apianus

Bayer was born in Rhain, Germany, near the confluence of the Lech and Danube rivers. He was a lifelong lawyer, of some local regard, having been appointed legal advisor to city council of Augsburg at an annual salary of 500 gulden, in 1612. He thought of himself as an amateur astronomer. In 1603, he published a beautiful and very influential survey of the skies - the 'Uranometria'. which literally translates as “measuring the heavens”. It is a truly great celestial atlas, combining innovative scientific rigour with artistic beauty. Bayer's work is the most complete catalogue of pre-telescopic astronomy, as well as the first celestial atlas showing the constellations as their traditional mythical figures, with the exact position of each star scientifically labelled. Published just one year later than Tycho Brahe’s star catalogue, Bayer includes nearly 1,000 more stars as well as the first accurate chart of 12 newly observed Southern constellations. For the first time, Bayer ranked the stars according to their degree of brightness, using a new Greek key of small alphabetical letters.

Constellation of Signus the Swan from Bayer Star Chart Atlas

A Celestine monk, who created the maps of the modern world for the 1507 Rome edition of Ptolemy’s ‘Geographia’, and edited a number of other geographical works.

Uncoloured map of the known world by Ruysch

 and contemporary of Lorenzo de' Medici. Berlinghieri is best known for 

his vernacular (contemporary Italian) version

’, the first edition to contain a translation into a modern language. His 'Geographia’ also included mythological, geographical and cartographical elements from various ancient and contemporary sources. Four so-called "modern maps" were added to the 27 Ptolemaic maps, all likely engraved by early map-seller Francesco Rosselli.

Berlinghieri's Ptolemaic world map with vibrant hand-drawn colour

Joan Blaeu was the son of the renowned cartographer 

. He began his professional career as a lawyer, however quickly joined his father’s workshop. When his father died in 1638, Joan Blaeu took over the firm with his brother, Cornelius Blaeu. Joan Blaeu was appointed as the official cartographer of the Dutch East India Company. He was well-informed on the latest cosmographical innovations and his 1648 hemispheric world map reflects the impact of 

 theory. Typical of early modern maps, California is presented as an island, disconnected from North America. In 1662, Joan published his greatest work, the 

 (1635) containing over six hundred maps.

Willem Janszoon was the founder of the Blaeu cartographic dynasty, synonymous with the finest mapmaking from The Netherlands. He studied astronomy and instrument-making under 

 before moving to Amsterdam. In addition to maps, Blaeu designed a completely original globe in 1599, and his subsequent productions were distinguished by their up-to-date astronomical information. Willem Janszoon's sons joined him in the firm, with the eldest Johannes (1596–1673) quickly assuming the lead. After Willem Janszoon died, Johannes expanded the ‘Atlas Novus’ into the ‘

’, the largest and grandest atlas of its time.

A black and white portrait of Willem Janszoon Blaeu

Jacques Bongars was a French diplomat and scholar. He is most well-known for chronicling the history of the 

. Bongars acted as a diplomat for the French King, 

 and was sent on missions around Europe. Bongars’ work reflects the sixteenth century fascination with reviving the Crusades; he created a 

 hybrid map based on the fourteenth century mapmaker, Pietro Vesconte’s 

. In the map, Jerusalem is placed in the centre. This reflects the early Christian belief that the Holy Land was at the centre of the Earth.

Brahe was a Danish astronomer, and of enormous importance to map-makers. He produced his own star catalogue to replace 

’s ‘Almagest’, which was eventually published by 

, recording the positions for 1,006 stars. It also inspired him to consider the theory of concentric “heavenly spheres”, which were imagined to be hard, clear, and crystalline. With the patronage of the King of Denmark, in 1580 Brahe built an observatory named Uraniaborg, after the ancient goddess Urania, the Muse of 

 family published detailed images of the observatory and Brahe’s instruments in the atlases. In 

celestial atlas, Brahe is seated with his famous observatory visible behind him. Brahe maintained a

model of the universe throughout his career.

Very little is known about Lucas Brandis, who was a Germany printer and publisher. He studied at the University of Leipzig before living and working in Lubeck. He later moved to Merseberg, where he founded a printing company. Brandis' most famous publication was the 

, a large book written by an anonymous author that was almost certainly a teaching aide for monks. It was very popular and re-issued several times. This book contains a famous world map, Holy Land map, and hundreds of woodblock illustrations of Biblical history and stories.

Cavendish was an English explorer and privateer known as ‘The Navigator’. He was very well-connected in London society, with influential friends in the court of Queen Elizabeth I. In 1585, she gave him permission to follow Francis Drake's route across the Pacific to the Spice Islands. Cavendish's voyage was successful; his voyage is commemorated alongside with Drake's on a 

Black and white portrait of Thomas Cavendish

Cellarius was a teacher and a writer. His earliest known work was on military architecture. It was published in Amsterdam by 

 who would later include Cellarius’s celestial atlas in his ‘Atlas Maior’. Cellarius’ greatest achievement was his 

s. It is probably the finest work of its kind ever realised thanks to its incredibly ornate and sumptuously illustrated depictions of the heavens.

A mathematician and astronomer who formulated a heliocentric [link to glossary: heliocentric] model of the solar system. Copernicus began to develop his heliocentric hypothesis by 1514, inspired by studying Regiomontanus’s edition of the 'Almagest'. His breathtakingly revolutionary ‘De revolutionibus orbium coelestium’ began to take its final shape after 1530, although he only received a complete copy of the published book on his deathbed.

Close up portrait of the head and shoulders of Nicholas Copernicus

Crivelli was a famous illuminator of manuscripts in Ferrara, Italy. While Crivelli and his workshop had many aristocratic and religious patrons, he moved to Bologna in 1471, where he lived and worked until his death. The maps in a famous Bologna edition of Ptolemy’s ‘Geographia’ are attributed to him. In 1480, he published a separate, beautiful 

Drake was a famous English explorer, privateer and politician. He grew rich as a result of his sea voyages, and through political connections sailed a fleet to the Pacific which is recorded in 

. Drake discovered that Tierra del Fuego, at the tip of South America, was in fact an island. The new strait and gateway to the Pacific was named after him by Europeans. He reached the shores of California and then set sail for the East Indies. Almost a year later, he had circumnavigated the globe and arrived back at Plymouth.

An English explorer and cartographer, and the illegitimate son of one of 

’s favourite courtiers. Dudley received the education and privileges of a Tudor nobleman and at the age of 21, led an expedition to the Orinoco River and Guiana. Forced to flee England due to political rivalry, he ended up in Florence at the court of Grand Duke Ferdinand II of Tuscany. Dudley served the Medici family for the rest of his life as a civil and military engineer, naval architect and geographer, among other roles. His key work was the 

or ‘The Secrets of the Ocean’ . This astonishing set of books includes how to navigate, how to record maps on different scales, how to build and sale a navy, and sail. It also contains a beautiful sea atlas.

Full body black and white portrait of Robert Dudley

Duval was the nephew and heir of the celebrated French cartographer Nicolas Sanson d'Abbeville, mapmaker to King Louis XIV of France. Sanson was responsible for a renaissance in geographical efforts in France, which paved the way for French domination in map production. The French school of cartography paid attention to precision and scientific detail, discarding much of the Iative embellishments of previous maps. Duval was appointed Chief Geographer to Louis XIV. When he died in 1683, the 

 passed to his widow and their two daughters, 

Among the most important artistic figures of the German Renaissance, Dürer first trained as an artist with his father, before joining the workshop of Michael Wolgemut in about 1484. His godfather was the publisher of the ‘Nuremberg Chronicle’, (1493). Dürer travelled extensively in Europe, working as an artist and illustrator, before establishing his own workshop in Nuremberg. It is highly likely that his work appears among the illustrations in the Nuremburg Chronicle. He also created a pair of wonderful cosmology maps and a world map, which was the first time that the world was depicted as a sphere.

Eckebrecht created an intriguing world map for publication with Johannes Kepler’s Rudolphine tables. One of the most visually striking of all world maps, it is surmounted by the double-headed eagle of the Holy Roman Empire. Scientifically, this is the first published map to recognise the correspondence of one hour of time to 15 degrees of longitude. In 1630, when it was first engraved, it was also one of the first maps to show any of the Dutch mapping of Australia.

Raif Efendi was the Secretary to the first Ottoman Embassy in London - the first permanent embassy by the Empire to any European country. A talented young bureaucrat with powerful friends in the Ottoman court, he met regularly with the King George III and Queen Charlotte, Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger, and Foreign Secretary William Grenville. After returning to Istanbul in 1796, Raif Efendi produced the ‘

the first folio atlas published in the Muslim world.

Full body portrait of Mahmoud Raif Efendi

Fine was a French polymath, accomplished in mathematics, astronomy, fortification strategy, graphic design and cartography. In 1531, he was appointed to the chair of mathematics at the Collège Royal, founded by Francis I of France. Fine’s first published map, ‘Nova Totius Galliae Descriptio’ (1525), is the first printed map of France, but he is best known for his 

 on a polar projection, frequently used by other cartographers, such as 

. Fine’s maps are particularly notable for his attempts to reconcile the discoveries in the New World with old medieval legends about the East.

An Italian painter, architect and cartographer. In 1545, Floriano was commissioned by the City Councillors of Udine to paint St. Mark and St. Hermacora, the Holy Virgin and Jesus Christ for their council chamber. In 1554, he was a member of the Council of the Commune, and the Church of Rualp of Carnia paid him for an altar-piece, sculptured and painted by him. The following year he produced his famous ‘bicycle-spoke’ map, with the world divided into the two hemispheres of 36 globe gores.

A preview of Floriano's “Bicycle Spoke” world map

Paolo Forlani worked in Venice and was one of the most prolific mapmakers of the Lafreri School. He engraved, published, and sold his own maps and those of other famous cartographers. Forlani was particularly skilled in engraving calligraphy, as a result many of his maps carry lengthy inscriptions. He was associated with four of the leading publishers of the period: Giovanni Francesco Camocio, Ferrando Bertelli, Bolgnini Zaltieri, and Claudio Duchetti. Forlani is best known, for his four world maps:

–Forlani 4 (c. 1561-1565), and his map of North America (1566), which was the first dedicated map of the area. In 1566, Forlani opened a shop in Venice, however, was largely unsuccessful and most of his plates were sold to other publishers.

A cartographer, astronomer, mathematician, physician, and maker of scientific instruments. Fries studied at the University of Louvain, and was appointed professor of medicine there in 1541. His first work on the principles of astronomy and cartography attempted to establish longitude by proposing the use of portable clocks, which would only be vindicated 200 years later. Fries published his first 

’s ‘Cosmographia’ bound with his own ‘Libellus de locorum describendorum ratione’ in 1533. Other works include a 

of Ptolemy's 'Geographia' (1541), and his blockbuster ‘Arithmeticae practicae methodus facilis’ (1540), which was reprinted more than 50 times during the 16th Century.

Colourful upper body painted portrait of Reinerus Gemma Frisius.

A physician, mathematician and cartographer, Fries assisted 

s important wall-map of the world. In 1522, Fries and the famous publisher Grüninger worked together on Fries’s own 

’ , in which nearly all the maps were based on those in Waldseemüller’s atlas . They also added three new maps: the world, China and Japan, and Southeast Asia.

Black and white portrait of Laurent Fries

A mathematician, engineer and cosmographer to 

 Charles V (Charles I of Spain). Girava published a number of works, including the posthumous ‘Dos libros de cosmographia’, a work which describes Brazil, and ‘India ó Nuevo mundo’ (1556), which included a 

, ‘A Prospect of the Most Famous Parts of the World’. Goos also worked as engraver for the major cartographic publishers of the day in Amsterdam: the 

 families. His only independent publication was the ‘Nieuw Nederlandtsch Caertboeck’ (1616). Abraham’s son, Pieter Goos (1616–1675), was one of the best-known maritime booksellers of Amsterdam, responsible for publishing a number of very popular sea atlases, reissued over decades. He stated that his works were as beneficial to gentlemen and merchants as to pilots and seamen. This bias towards a gentleman’s library is evident in the minimal revision that the cartography underwent over time. Its beauty can be seen in his famous 

Preview of Abraham Goos' double hemisphere world map

An English cartographer of the late 17th Century. His earliest publications were maps of England and Germany in 1673. Many of the works which bear his name appear to involve partners, although he owned his own “presses to Print”. Greene's double-hemisphere world map of 1676 is possibly the earliest world map engraved and published in England to include a pair of polar projections, and one of the earliest to show the coastline of New Zealand.

A German painter and designer, and one of the greatest portrait artists of his era. By 1515, Holbein was working as a print designer in Basel, but was soon occupied as a portrait artist and decorator. He spent much of his career in Basel, with stints in Lucerne and London. Holbein the Younger created the famous woodcut border for 

Holl was a publisher based in Ulm, a German city of wealthy traders and merchants at the confluence of the Blau, Ille and Danube rivers. His 

 was the first book printed by him. However, the venture proved ruinously expensive and his business went bankrupt shortly after publication. The remaining sheets, the woodblocks and the types passed to Johann Reger in Ulm, who 

Ptolemaic World Map printed from a woodcut by Lienhart Holl, set against a blue sky with clouds surrounding the maps. There are 10 Windheads around the Earth.

Founder of the Hondius publishing house in Amsterdam in the late 16th Century. Between about 1584 and 1593 Hondius lived and worked in London, and became fascinated by 

 and his voyages. Many portraits of the explorer are attributed to Hondius, as well as a very famous and rare 

In July of 1604, Hondius purchased many of 

’s original engraved copperplates from his grandson, Gerard Mercator, Jr., and thereafter built a successful publishing career from his own Mercator-Hondius atlas, issued as ‘Gerardi Mercatoris Atlas Sive Cosmographicae’. After Hondius died in 1612, his widow Jodocus Hondius II and his brother, Henricus Hondius II (1597–1651), continued publishing atlases under his name until 1620. Unfortunately, in 1621 Jodocus Hondius II split with his brother, creating a rival publishing house. Henricus continued his father’s business with his brother-in-law, Johannes Janssonius (1588–1664) , who had married Elizabeth Hondius in 1612. After 1619, the Atlas was published under the name of Henricus Hondius, Jodocus Hondius’s son, but by 1629, the Blaeu family were becoming serious rivals to their publishing house.

A colourful portrait of Jodocus Hondius I

An important member of a family of Chinese imperial cartographers. According to the text on the ‘Blue Map of the World’ (c1810), the original map upon which it was based was created by Huang, whose family had served as cartographers to the emperor for at least three generations. In 1759, Manchuria, Mongolia, Tibet and Chinese Turkestan were brought under Qing rule. Huang compiled official statistics into this wonderful wood-block map entitled ‘A Map of All under Heaven of the Everlasting Unified Qing Empire’.

Huang Shang was the tutor of Emperor Guangzong’s son, Zhao Kuo. He was one of the most successful cartographers of the Song Dynasty. Huang is associated with two surviving maps: the terrestrial map 

 (1190), which combined Western and Chinese astronomical knowledge. Huang intended 

to be a teaching aid, displaying the split between the Northern Chinese dynasties and the Song dynasty. 

 illustrates the position of China in the universe and the accompanying text alludes to Chinese philosophies on the Empire’s harmony and the birth of the cosmos. The map was engraved into a stone tablet and inspired future maps such as Yunyou Sanren’s 1820 celestial chart.

A scholar-priest and founder of the Kegonji Temple in Kyoto. Soshun was the creator of the first Japanese 

, including Europe and America, from a Buddhist perspective.

Print from a woodcut of the Map of All the Countries of the Terrestial World

Son-in-law of Jodocus Hondius. Janssonius’s first independent work was an edition of Blaeu’s ‘Licht der Zeervaert’ (1620), however, from 1633 he is associated with the Mercator-Hondius atlas, and from there on in, the houses of Blaeu, and the partnership of Hondius and Janssonius, enjoyed an intense rivalry. In 1657, Janssonius released his beautifully rendered Historical Atlas. A few years later, his ‘Atlas Major’ was complete, with Andreas Cellarius’s celestial atlas.

Black and white full body portrait of Johannes Janssonius

A scholar of medicine, history, physics, astronomy, mathematics, comparative musicology and linguistics. In later life, Kircher's interests led him to consider the nature of the geology. Notable among his 40 major written works is his 'Mundus Subterraneus' (1664) which resulted from his investigations. The work contains a map of the legendary island of Atlantis, and striking diagrams of natural subterranean geological systems, Including 

. At the Collegio Romano he amassed a vast cabinet of curiosities, later called the ‘Musuem Kircherianum’, and one of the first public museums.

Black and white portrait of Athanasius Kircher

Lambert was a well-known publisher from Cologne. Together with a group of contemporaries including Bertram Buchholtz and Gottfried von Kempen, Lambert helped to make Cologne one of the great map centres of Europe in the late 16th Century. Their atlases had a profound effect on the development of a map-reading public. In 1596, Lambert produced a beautiful 

Black and white map of the world by Andreas Lambert

Macrobius was a philosopher, praetorian prefect of Italy. He was the author of a Commentary on Cicero’s ‘Dream of Scipio’ and the ‘Saturnalia’, which were first printed with his unique world map in 1483.

Simple full body portrait of Ambrosius Theodosius Macrobius

The House of Medici was a powerful banking family and patron of the arts and sciences. The ruling family of Florence for most of the 15th Century, and the first half of the 16th. The basis of their power lay in the foundation of the Medici bank by Giovanni de Bicci in 1397, which serviced the papacy. The Medici assumed the title of Dukes of Tuscany from 1530 and Grand Dukes from 1569 to 1737. Giovanni's son Cosimo I (1389–1464), was a great patron of the arts and humanism. 

s ‘Arcano del mare’ was bound for Cardinal Gian Carlo de’ Medici (1611-1663), “High Admiral of the Tuscan Navy”, “General of the Mediterranean Sea” and “General of the Spanish Seas”. Gian Carlo was the second son of the dedicatee of the atlas, Cosimo II de’Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, and Maria Maddelena of Austria.

Colourful portrait of Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany

Among the earliest Roman geographers, and author of the only extant 

 in Classical Latin. Pomponius Mela was born in southern Spain. From a reference in his work to the Emperor's proposed expedition to Britain in 43CE, Mela appears to have lived during the reign of the 

. His famous geographical treatise, ‘De Situ Orbis’, remained highly influential throughout the following centuries until the Age of Exploration began.

Mercator was a cartographer, geographer and inventor of the most famous projection, named for him. Mercator under Gemma Frisius, and eventually won the patronage of Charles V of Spain. To escape religious persecution, he moved to Duisburg in 1552. There he continued to produce maps, globes and instruments, including his most celebrated work: a world map on eighteen sheets drawn to his new projection (1569), known as the Mercator Projection. One of the great intellectual inventions of man, the projection solved the ancient classical problem of how to map the spherical earth onto a flat sheet of paper, while preserving the bearings of the compass as straight lines. In later life, he devoted himself to the preparation of his three-volume collection of maps to which, for the first time, the word "atlas" was applied. The word was chosen, he wrote, “to honour the Titan, Atlas, King of Mauritania, a learned philosopher, mathematician, and astronomer”. Mercator's sons and grandsons were all cartographers and contributed to this work. His son Rumold, in particular, was responsible for the complete edition of 1595.

An Orientalist who wrote a Hebrew guide complete with Biblical maps, and supervised and edited the great 

commissioned by King Philip II of Spain. Montanus included in this work parallel Hebrew text with a translation by Leon de Castro, a fellow at Salamanca. de Castro denounced Montanus to the Spanish Inquisition for having heretically altered the text of the Bible. He was eventually freed of the charges in 1580, and thereafter mostly retired to his hermitage. However, he accepted the post of royal chaplain, looking after the Escorial library and teaching Eastern languages.

Colourful portrait of the upper body of Benedictus Arias Montanus

Münster was a prolific cosmographer, humanist, theologian and linguist. A Franciscan friar from around 1506, he studied in Tübingen and taught in Basel and Heidelberg before leaving the order and moving to Basel, where he indulged in his other great love: cartography. Münster produced, and had a hand in, several important works. In 1540, he published his edition of 

 and in 1544, Münster produced his greatest work, 

. It was the culmination of a lifetime’s study, in which he distilled the geographical information he had gathered over the past thirty years. The work would prove to be so popular that some 40 editions were published between 1544 and 1628.

Colourful side profile portrait of Sebastian Münster

Nolin published little original work, but he had personal and business relationships with some of the leading cartographers of the day, including 

 and Jean-Dominique Cassini. He became one of the most successful mapmakers in France by combining the decorative flair from Italian maps with the geographical accuracy of French cartography, as evident on his great wall map. Nolin claimed to be "Engraver to the King” and “Geographer to the Duke of Orleans”, despite holding neither title. After his death, his son -also named Jean Baptiste Nolin- inherited his father's copperplates and republished many of his maps throughout the 18th Century, working from the same premises in Paris.

Leading member of the Oliva family, a cartographic dynasty who dominated 

 production in Europe during the 16th and early 17th Centuries. Charts signed by no fewer than 16 different members of the Oliva family are recorded between 1538 and 1673, and individual members apparently worked throughout the Mediterranean world, as their 

originate from Mallorca, Messina, Naples, Livorno, Florence, Venice, Malta, Palermo, and Marseilles. The exact relationships between the various members are unclear, but Joan appears to have been one of the most prolific and highly regarded. The earliest of 

 were executed in Messina, but he is also recorded as living in Naples as well as Marseilles, where he is thought to have died.

Preview of a Joan Oliva portolan chart on vellum

A cartographer, geographer and cosmographer - and the creator of the first modern atlas. Ortelius studied Greek, Latin and mathematics, and was only 20 when he established himself as a map colourist and salesman in Antwerp. With the assistance of his sister he would buy and colour black and white maps. He also provided a small outlet for the books of the great printer, 

. The business prospered and Ortelius established a highly developed network of powerful and influential contacts both at home and abroad. His greatest work, the 

 appeared in 1570, marking the beginning of an epoch in the history of cartography. It is considered the first modern atlas, a uniformly sized and systematically curated collection of 

's countries; its information was current and although the contents were mainly European, it also contained maps of the separate continents and a 

. The first edition included 53 maps, but over 42 editions this increased to over 160. Information was drawn from every possible source; Ortelius selected only the best maps of his contemporaries for inclusion.

Colourful side profile portrait of Abraham Ortelius

An English map publisher who inherited the stock and business of Peter Stent. Overton was born in London, the son of Thomas Overton, a tailor in Covent Garden. He is believed to have been related to the bookseller, Henry Overton. With the foundation of the existing plate stock, Overton built Stent's business up to being the most successful in London by the end of the 17th Century. Overton was interested in maps, commissioning a range of interesting cartographic works including a world map, generally sold separately.

A black and white portrait of John Overton

An itinerant preacher turned cartographer, also known as Pieter Platevoet (Flatfoot). His first work as a cartographer was to prepare five maps for the Dutch Bible of 1590. One of them, was not actually included in the bible, but issued separately. It shows the four possible sailing routes to the lucrative markets in Southeast Asia. Plancius was an investor in the Dutch East India Company. He became their first hydrographer, and was soon supplying both navigational and star charts based on the observations of the ships’ pilots, for the expeditions following these routes.

Oval framed black and white portrait of Petrus Plancius.

Founder of the Officina Plantiniana, which became the largest printing business in 16th Century Europe, largely due to his business acumen and a fluid approach to the prevailing political and religious climate. Plantin published works that appealed to both Protestants and Catholics, and was prepared to move his business when things became volatile. From as early as 1558, Plantin was a business associate and friend of Abraham Ortelius, who published his first “modern” atlas of the world in 1570. After many years in Leiden, Plantin did returned as an elderly man to Antwerp in 1585, where he attempted to ingratiate himself one last time with Spain, by printing a 

A Greco-Roman scholar, most famous for the three works he produced on astronomy, geography and astrology. Almost nothing is known of Ptolemy’s life except that he lived in Alexandria, and was a Roman citizen. His first book, the ‘Almagest’ was an astronomical text based on a theory of a geocentric universe. This was followed by its companion, the ‘Tetra-Biblos’, which concerned astrology and the effects of the planets and stars on human health and behaviour. Ptolemy wrote his most famous work, the ‘Geographia’ around 150CE, using an atlas by Marinus of Tyre and adding information from Roman, Persian and Babylonian sources. The importance of this work for generations of map-makers, cartographers and navigators cannot be over-stated. Interesting, no examples of a map by Ptolemy himself, if any, has survived.

Black and white portrait of Claudius Ptolemaeus

One of the most important printers of the 15th Century. Originally from Augsburg, he was active in Venice from 1476-86 before returning to his home city. He introduced multiple printing innovations including the introduction of the title-page, production of the first known printer’s type specimen book, and was the first to print a book in two colours. He also published one of the 15th Century’s most popular books: Rolewinck's 'Fascilculus temporum', an overview of world history from Creation to the present.

Excerpt from chronicle Fasciculus Temporum, written by Werner Rolewinck

A German printer active in Ulm during the late 15th Century. Reger was commissioned by Justus de Albano of Venice to print a re-issue of Leinhart Holl’s ‘Geographia’ of 1482. de Albano had purchased Holl’s printing house, and contents, after Holl’s bankruptcy in 1484, and two years later Reger produced his re-issue of the great Ptolemaic work.

Johann Reger's re-issue of the Ulm Ptolemaic map

A mathematician, astrologer and astronomer who made great contributions to the development of the 

. After studying at the University of Vienna he was appointed to the faculty, thereby becoming a colleague of Peurbach, with whom he had studied astronomy. The two men became fast friends and worked closely together as observers of the heavens. Among Regiomontanus' most important achievements was a portable sundial built for Pope Paul II, a pioneering work on arithmetic and algebra, and his 

'. Copernicus referred to this work as an influence on his own ideas about the solar system.

Black and white portrait in a frame of Johannes Regiomontanus

A German Carthusian monk and humanist scholar responsible for one of the earliest printed encyclopaedias of general knowledge. Reisch studied at the University of Freiburg before taking orders as a monk. Reisch was also confessor of Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I. In his travels, he became friends with the most celebrated 

. From 1503, Reisch was the author of a highly popular textbook on moral and natural philosophy; early editions contain his elegant 

Reisch's Windhead Map showing lands unknown to Ptolemy

A German mathematician, cartographer and astronomer admired for his introduction of an innovative gnomonic projection that he used in his maps. Ritter worked in his native city of Nuremberg, and seems not to have taken on any apprentices, unfortunately meaning that much information about his life and works has been lost. All that is known is his keen interest in scientific and navigational instruments, as witnessed by his book on sundials, the ‘Speculum solis’, or Mirror of the Sun.

 and author of around 50 written works. He was born in Westphalia in 1425 to a wealthy farmer, and educated in Cologne where he lived all the rest of his life. Rolewinck may have authored many works, but the ‘

’, remains his best known, being a history of the world from Creation to Pope Sixtus IV. Almost 40 editions were published during Rolewinck ‘s lifetime alone.

Rosaccio was a physician from Pordenone, and fascinated by cosmography, genealogy, and medicine. He also sold books, and was respected for a number of works on scientific subjects, geography and astronomy, as well as the Muslim religion. Rosaccio published beautiful maps, including a world map featuring a portrait of Cosimo di Medici.

Preview of the map of the world by Giuseppe Rosaccio

An artist and cartographer from the Low Countries, Ruysch became a 

 and was given an office in the papal palace by Julius II. This could be when he made his famous 

 of Ptolemy's 'Geographia'. The introduction to the 1508 Rome edition of the ‘Geographia’ states that Ruysch claimed to have sailed from England to the North Pole and then to Asia. He may have been a member of John Cabot’s expedition from Bristol trying to reach China, although the entire claim remains a subject of heated debate.

A black and white version of Ruysch's 1507 world map.

A Spanish bookseller active in Rome during the first half of the 16th Century. Salamanca collaborated with some of the most important literary and cartographical names of the day, including Antonio Lafreri. Although he was primarily a publisher and seller, Salamanca also produced his own wonderful maps, including a finely engraved 

A slightly faded black and white portrait of Antonio Salamanca

Sanson was a mapmaker whose work earned him the title ‘father of French cartography’. He started by making maps to supplement his study of history, attracting the attention of Cardinal Richelieu, and rose to be “geographe du roi”. He taught both Louis XIII and Louis XIV. Sanson's success was partly due to his partnership with the publisher Pierre Mariette, who helped Sanson financially - including with the first French published atlas of the world. In 1665, Sanson was joined in business by his sons Guillaume and Adrien. After Sanson’s death, the firm was continued by his sons, a grandson, and Hubert Jaillot.

Black and white portrait of Nicolas Sanson d’Abbeville

Schedel was the compiler of the famous ​‘Nuremberg Chronicle’ (1493), a sumptuously illustrated history of the world from Creation to the End of Days. The Chronicle was probably worked on by Schedel's godson, Albrecht Durer. It contains maps as well as detailed city views and illustrations of historic events, and natural phenomena. Schedel was also a lawyer, physician, important humanist and book collector. His comprehensive library was one of the largest personal libraries in late medieval Europe. It eventually contained over 300 manuscripts and several hundred printed books.

A printer of significant works in Strassburg. Schott was responsible for printing Gregor Reisch’s ‘Margarita Philosophica’Martin Waldseemüller and Matthias Ringmann’s edition of Ptolemy’s ‘Geographia’, Martin Luther’s ‘Invocavit Sermons’ (1523), and other notable Humanist and Reformist works. He inherited his press from his father, Martin Schott (d1499); his grandfather, Friedrich Schott, had been a woodcutter and sculptor. His mother was the daughter of renowned printer of the Mentelin Bible, Johannes Mentelin (1410-1477).

Preview of Waldseemüller's amended Ptolemaic world

An English cartographer, chronologer and historian, who produced a great atlas with plates engraved by Jodocus Hondius. Speed was probably apprenticed as a rolling-press printer as a young man. His earliest cartographic works were historical. The ‘History of Great Britaine’ (1611) and its companion atlas volume, the ‘Theatre of the Empire of great Britaine’ (1612) were published together and highly successful. The maps became the basis for English folio atlases until the mid-18th Century.

Black and white portrait of English cartographer, John Speed

London's first print seller, who ran one of the most successful printmaking enterprises of the 17th Century with a large and diverse stock of material. Stent was apprenticed in 1627 to Elizabeth Lowe, a copperplate printer. He was made free by the Merchant Taylor’s company in 1637. In 1645, he was left £106 by his father and began buying old copperplates from which he could print stock. Among Stent's most important works was a double-hemisphere world map. After Stent’s death, his estate passed to his widow, Susanna, and shortly afterwards to John Overton.

Preview of Peter Stent's double-hemisphere world map

A specialist in metaphysics, chair of cosmography at Kracow, and later a member of the Franciscan order. Stobincza published prolifically on a range of genres including logic, grammar, astronomy, geography, mathematics, music, natural sciences, and ethics. His geographical work is an early example of Americana, and contains several passages on Amerigo Vespucci and his discoveries. The work is notable for its early description of the Isthmus of Panama, seemingly a year before its official “discovery” by Núñez de Balboa.

Stumpff was a theologian, cartographer and early historian of Switzerland. His magnum opus was a chronicle of Switzerland entitled ‘Gemeiner loblicher Eydgnossenschaft Stetten, Landen, und Volckeren chronikwirdiger Thaaten Beschreybung’. This work is now regarded as the first Protestant Chronicle and first national atlas. It contains a small cordiformworld map, maps of Europe, and thousands of woodcut illustrations showing historical events as well as daily life. A second edition was published by Stumpff's son, Johann Rudolf in 1586, and a third edition (‘Schweytzer Chronick’) appeared another 20 years later in a smaller format. Stumpff was a friend of Huldrych Zwingli, leader of the Swiss Reformation.

Black and white portrait of Johannes Stumpff

An Italian scholar and printer who published important editions of Ptolemy’s ‘

’. The first was based on the copperplates from the Rome editions of 1478 and 1490. The next, published in Venice in 1511, was more original. Sylvanus updated the traditional maps with more recent information, which he mainly gathered from contemporary manuscript material. This created a unique effect, made all the more recognisable by the pioneering use of 

, in red and black. Sylvanus’s second 'Geographia' also contained a large 

, again the earliest of its kind, and only the second Ptolemaic world map to show America.

Tramezzino was a book and print dealer active during the 16th Century, usually working with his brother Francesco. The siblings sold and published books and prints from addresses initially in Rome, then Venice. Tramezzino specialised in publishing maps not only from original sources, but also reduced versions of maps first published outside Italy. It is often only through Tramezzino's smaller copies that some of the great and elusive wall maps survive. His greatest publication was a world map in 1554, with separate Eastern and Western hemispheres.

Preview of the western hemisphere of Tramezzino's double hemisphere map

A Huguenot historian and political theorist, father of the better-known Theodore Turquet de Mayerne (1573 – 1655). Turquet wrote a general history of Spain, theological essays, treatises on the role of science and a philosophical tract on different forms of government. In one of his books appears a beautiful map of the world with the north pole at its centre, concentric circles representing latitude.

Map of the world on a north polar postel azimuthal projection

A Swiss humanist, and city physician and mayor of St Gallen. Vadianus oversaw the town's conversion to Protestantism during the 

. He wrote on a wide range of subjects, including history, literature and theology, and produced a 

 the 'Epitome Trium Terrae Partium'. This was his best-known work, although in the field of geography he also wrote a commentary for Pomponius Mela's 'De Situ Orbis'.

Black and white portrait of Joachim Vadianus

A publishing house that produced some of the most significant cartographical material of the Dutch Golden Age. The firm was established by Claes Janszoon Visscher the Elder. However, it was his son, Claes Janszoon Visscher II who first emerged as a printmaker - and one of the most prolific publishers in Europe. His grandfather had been a fisherman, and fishermen are a recurring theme throughout Visscher’s engravings: his monogram included a fishhook. By 1605, he was working for Willem Jansz Blaeu on his monumental world map and by 1608 he was signing his name as the creator and publisher of his own works. Despite his formidable output and stock, we know little about Claes Janszoon II himself. Alongside the print business, he and his family made a fortune buying property. Claes Janszoon’s son Nicolaes joined the business until his own death, followed by his son Nicolaes II until 1702. Nicolaes II's wife Elizabeth Verseyl successfully continued the firm until her death in 1726.

A very influential German cartographer and scholar whose works include the first to map to South America as a continent separate from Asia. Waldseemüller's ‘Cosmographia’ (1507) contains the first printed instance of the name ​“America. The book was accompanied by a set of small woodcut map gores, the first known printed gores for a terrestrial globe ever made. These were a companion to the ‘Universalis cosmographia...’, a great woodcut world map produced by Waldseemüller in 12 sheets, and the first printed wall map of Europe. Waldseemüller published a revolutionary edition of Ptolemy’s ‘

’ in 1513. In addition to 27 maps of the “old” world, it included a supplement of 20 new maps, including of the “new” world. A second edition of Waldseemüller's atlas was printed In 1520, featuring his famous "

A black and white painting of Martin Waldseemüller

Wierix was a Flemish engraver and draughtsman who was often employed by Christopher Plantin, the publisher of Abraham Ortelius’s seminal atlas. He also engraved the highly detailed and accomplished allegorical images a knight combatting sin, which were later included in Hondius' famous "Christian Knight Map".

Cadamosto was a Venetian merchant, who voyaged to the west coast of Africa in the 1450s. In search of new discoveries and gold for his patrons in Portugal, Cadamosto claimed to have discovered some of the Cape Verde Islands. The following century, Cadamosto’s heirs would commission a 

 which is now one of the most remarkable pieces of cartography to survive from the 16th Century.

de Conches was a natural philosopher, born by his own account “in a country of mutton-heads". He taught at the Universities of Paris and Chartres, and eventually became tutor to the children of Geoffrey Plantagenet, including the future Henry II of England. de Conches is best known for his early work ‘Philosophia Mundi’ (c1125), and the later modified version, ‘Dragmaticon Philosophiae’ (c1144), which contained one of the 

Colourful simple portrait of William de Conches

A cartographer, engraver and prolific publisher of 

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