An apparently UNRECORDED THIRD STATE of Gerard Mercator’s original map of present day Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. It was first published in the ‘Atlantis Pars Altera’ in 1595. In the second state the imprint of Mercator is retained but ‘Amstelodami, Sumptibus Henrici Hondii. 1627’ is added in the lower right corner. There is otherwise little apparent difference. Van der Krogt in his extremely accurate record of the work records the last issue of the plate in the 1636 English edition of the atlas. For the German text ‘Appendix Atlantis’ issued in the same year a newly engraved plate was issued. The history of the original Mercator plates beyond this date is not known. One of the reasons for change was stylistic. The heavy florid style of the late sixteenth century was being replaced by the more open style championed by Blaeu. Indeed in a number of the Mercator plates the heavy stippling of the sea particularly has been removed. This is the case in this unrecorded state and it may show an attempt to make the plate acceptable for the newly designed ‘Atlas Novus’ as it would become. As a new plate was issued in the same year 1636 as the old one was last issued it may be a very finite date. The other possible scenario is that the plate survived and was possibly sold. The intention was clearly to use it otherwise one wouldn’t go to the effort of so much work to the plate.

Along with erasing the engraved sea a new title cartouche is engraved with the wording ‘Livoniae et Curlandiae Descriptio’. A new scale is engraved lower left and three ships are inserted. An apparently unique example. Provenance: Graf Galen, stamp to the verso. Koeman Me 12 no. 103; Van der Krogt 1710:1A.1 (first state).