Bertius’ Miniature Map of Hesse

Copper engraving, each 9.7 x 13.5 cm, modern hand-colour, trivial spotting, Latin text on verso. A miniature map of Hesse, from the first edition of Tabularum geographicarum contractarum libri, a geographical work which is normally catalogued under the name of its author, Bertius. The maps are generally reduced from the cartography in the folio Mercator-Hondius atlas, and were mostly engraved by Jodocus Hondius, eldest son of the printer, who also bears the same name. Geoffrey King calls them “undoubtedly the finest set of miniature maps ever printed” (Miniature Antique Maps p. 96).