An attractive map of the island of Chios in the Aegean Sea. It was first published by Barent Langenes in the ‘Caert-Thresoor’ in 1598. The atlas ‘sets a new standard for minor atlases. The small maps are extremely well engraved: neat and clear, elegantly composed’ (Koeman). ‘This small book had a complicated publication history, and was clearly very popular in its day. Little is known about Langenes, and his association with the atlas is not fully understood. He was a printer in the town of Middelburg, the capital of the province of Zeeland. This atlas was brought out at a time of increasing competition for the pocket sized atlas market. Not only was the miniature Ortelius, ‘Spieghel der Werelt’, first published in 1577, still being sold, but in this year of 1598, an Italian version of it was also first published in Brescia. At the same time Zacharias Heyns was publishing his ‘Le Miroir Du Monde’ in Amsterdam; within a decade others would follow.

‘Petrus Bertius (1565 1629) was the librarian of the University of Leyden and was a relative of both van den Keere and Hondius. He wrote a completely new text for which the Langenes plates were used in 1600. This was a reversion to normal practice, because in the Langenes editions the text was specifically written for the maps. Cornelis Claesz was the publisher of both the Langenes and the Bertius series until his death in 1609 when they were continued by his successor Henry Laurentz’ (Burden). There was a second edition of the Bertius in 1602-[03]. Reference: Koeman ‘Atlantes Neerlandici’ I p. 61 & 341:53, II Lan 7 pp. 252-8; Van der Krogt IIIA 341.53; Phillips (1909-2004) 3409; Shirley (2004) T.LAN (2004) 1c; Zacharakis (1992) 1219.