An attractive map of the British Isles by the great cartographer Gerard Mercator (1512-94). It was first published posthumously by his son Rumold in 1595 in the third part of his great atlas dedicated to Queen Elizabeth. According to Shirley the map is a composition of the cartography of England and Wales by Christopher Saxton, Ireland ‘partly from Nowell-Hondius and Scotland from Mercator’s own large map of 1564’. Following one further edition in 1602 the plates were acquired by Jodocus Hondius who expanded the work considerably. The ‘Atlas sive Cosmographicae’ was published in 1606 with several ensuing editions including 1609 with French text from which this map comes. Provenance: Doreen Green 1991; private English collection. Shirley (1991) 180; Van der Krogt 5000.1A.