FIRST STATE FIRST ISSUE of a map Van den Broecke estimates only 400 were produced. In 1601 Jan Baptiste Vrients acquired the copper plates to the famous Abraham Ortelius atlas, the ‘Theatrum Orbis Terrarum’. Shortly after Vrients began to introduce new plates to the atlas. One of these is this map derived from that by Christopher Saxton which appeared in his landmark atlas of 1579. It replaced the earlier map of 1573 which by know was showing its age. The map appears in some examples of the 1602 Spanish text edition however, its first true inclusion in an edition was the Latin edition of 1603. It is this issue we offer here. Van den Broecke (1996) 20; Kelly (2007) pp. 226-30; Shirley (1991) 258.