Mercator, Gerhard, 1512-1594

1585

Text: Zeelandt Comitatus. Et Hollandiae pars Meridionalis.

Duysburgi Clivorum

Duisburg

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(Text page to) Zeelandt Comitatus. Et Hollandiae pars Meridionalis.

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Mercator, Gerhard, 1512-1594

1585

Galliae Tabulae Geographicae; Belgii Inferioris Geographicae Tabulae; Germaniae Tabulae Geographicae.

Koeman Me 9; van der Krogt 1:001

This book is Mercator's first atlas. It includes three parts, Galliae, Belgii Inferioris, and Germaniae. Each has its own title page and index (our copy lacking the Germaniae title page). Mercator published his edition of Ptolemy in 1578 (see our Bertius edition 11296.000), the first part of his atlas (this book) in 1585, and his son Rumold issued the first complete atlas in 1595, the year after Mercator's death. "The earliest biography on Mercator was already published in 1595, as part of the text in the Atlas. It was written by Walter Ghim, Lord Major of Duisburg, the place where Mercator spent half his lifetime. The following is mainly borrowed from Ghim, supplemented with information obtained from the many excellent articles published in Special Volume no. 6 of the Duisburger Forschungen, 1962... Gerard (Gerhard) Mercator was born on 5 March 1512 at Rupelmonde, Flanders, where his parents, both living in the county of Gillich (Jiilich), happened to be. He spent his childhood in Gillich and went to the University of Leuven where he was registered as 'a student without means' on 29 August 1530. He obtained a 'magisterii gradum' in 1532 but stayed at Leuven where he then devoted himself to the study of philosophy. The problems of the creation of the Universe and the Earth interested him in particular; this is reflected by his works, written in later years. As his personal opinions did not agree with the scholastic philosophy as lectured at Leuven, he left the city for Antwerp; where he could contemplate without being influenced. Convinced of the importance of exact sciences, for the study of the true configuration of the world, he returned to Leuven, ca. 1535, where he took courses in mathematics, both theoretical and practical, under the guidance of Gemma Frisius. Soon he was recognised as an expert on the construction of mathematical instruments, as a land-surveyor and, after 1537, as a cartographer. He drew his income from these activities after his marriage on 3 August 1536. He also qualified himself as a copper-engraver; he was the first in history to introduce the italic handwriting to this trade. A booklet on italic handwriting was written and published by him in 1540. The first maps, drawn and engraved by Gerard Mercator are: Map of Palestine, 1537; Map of the world in double heart-shaped projection, 1538; and Map of Flanders, 1540. One of the main sources of his income was derived from the construction and sale of globes. He must have learned the technique of globe-making in Leuven, i.a., from Gemma Frisius, whom he assisted with revisions of his globe in 1535 or 1536. The first copies of Mercator's terrestrial globe appeared in 1541. His celestial globe appeared in 1551; both had a diametre of 41 cm. Suddenly, in 1544, Mercator came into great danger: during a stay in Rupelmonde he was arrested on the accusation of heresy and put into jail. It seems that only his departure from Leuven had made him suspect. Thanks to intervention of the University of Leuven, he was released after four months. He returned to Leuven where he continued his work on the construction of geometrical instruments and globes until 1552, when he departed and moved with his family into the city of Duisburg; however, he kept into touch with authorities and friends in Belgium. His moving into Germany may have been influenced by the high degree of religious freedom which prevailed there. It is also likely that he was motivated by his knowledge of the plans of Duke William of Jiilich-Cleve-Berge to found a University in Duisburg. In 1560, Mercator became cosmographer in service of the Duke and in 1563 he became lecturer at the Grammar School. During the first ten years of his stay at Duisburg he was also often employed as a land-surveyor. The cartographical work of the Duisburg period comprises: the wall-map of Europe, 1554; the wall-map of Loraine, 1563-1564; the wall-map of the British Isles, 1564; and the famous map of the world with increasing latitudes, 1569. Although nowadays it is his best known work, this map on the projection named after Mercator got its recognition only after the publication of Edw. Wright's Certaine Errors in Navigation, 1599. In the same year 1569 his book Chronologica appeared, which was listed in the Index of forbidden works. About this time, Mercator was also working on the project for a complete description of the Creation, the Heavens, Earth, and Sea and a world history. Out of this resulted his Atlas, sive cosmographicae meditationes de fabrica mundi et fabricati .figura. The drawings of the maps, the cutting of the plates, and the writing of the text asked more of his time then he himself could afford. First of all he had to make a living from his practical work as an instrumentand globe-maker. In the preface to his Chronologia, he had already announced a work on geography consisting of the ancient maps of Ptolemy and of modern maps. This edition of Ptolemy's Geographia appeared in 1578; the first part of his book with modern maps (France, Germany and the Netherlands) appeared in 1585. Contrary to the maps in Abraham Ortelius's Theatrum orbis terrarum, Antwerp 1570, Mercator's maps are original. Abraham Ortelius did what most of the atlas-makers of our time are engaged in: the reduction and generalisation of already existing maps. Gerard Mercator, with his sense of scientific work (which should be original and new) checked the current knowledge of the configuration of the earth's topography against its fundamental sources and drew new maps in his original conception. This method of map-making took more time than it would have by mere copying. But he had not the intention to compete with Ortelius's best-selling atlas. As he grew older, engraving became more and more of an eye strain; it eventually led to an infection of his eyes, from which he fortunately recovered. Still working under the stress of a huge task (to be fulfilled before his powers should weaken), he lost his wife in 1586, after a marriage of fifty years. A few months afterwards he married the widow of the burgomaster Moer of Duisburg. Shortly after the publication of the second part of his map-book (not yet called Atlas) with the maps of Italy, i.a., in 1589, he had a stroke which brought an end to his extremely great productivity. The great man passed away on 2 December 1594, leaving the responsibility of finishing the map-book to his son Rumold. The final part of it appeared in 1595. Its title is Pars Altera and it constitutes an essential part of what was then called Mercator's Atlas. Two of Gerard Mercator's sons died before him: Arnold (1537-1587) and Bartholomeus (1540-1563). Apart from three daughters, he had another son, Rumold, who had assisted him in cartographical business. Rumold first went into the book-trade. He was an apprentice of Birckmann Heirs first in London, afterwards in Antwerp. The map of Europe and the world map in the Atlas are by Rumold's hand. He also made a wall-map of Germany, published in 1590. After Rumold's death in 1599, the Atlas was reissued once more in 1602. By the sale of the plates for the maps, both of the Ptolemy edition and the Atlas, to Jodocus Hondius of Amsterdam, Mercator's work won its proper fame. This sale took place in 1604; in the following year Hondius managed to bring out Ptolemy's Geographia. In the following year, 1606, the first Amsterdam edition of the Mercator Atlas appeared. From then to 1638, the Atlas saw many enlarged editions in various languages." (Koeman, Atlantes Neerlandici, vol II, p 281-282)

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Mercator, Gerhard, 1512-1594