This series of plates by Barent Langenes was first published by Cornelis Claesz for the ‘Caert-Thresoor’ in 1598. They are executed by some of the finest engravers of the day including Pieter van den Keere and Jodocus Hondius. ‘It sets a new standard for minor atlases. The small maps are extremely well engraved: neat and clear, elegantly composed’ (Koeman). They reflect the very latest knowledge which at the time the Dutch were most privileged to. This is particularly notable in those depicting the arctic waters as both Dutch and English explorers were extensively searching for new routes to China. They were regarded well enough for them to be utilised in as many as nine further works according to one early scholar.

‘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] and this third edition appeared in 1606. It bears some revisions from earlier with the omission of the three plates of the Escurial however the description of Spain has been expanded. Provenance: manuscript ownership inscription ‘Gasp. Fromenti Valent IVD 1612’ above the title page; acquired from a private English Collection 1981; further private English Collection. Reference: Burden ‘The Mapping of North America’ no. 92; Koeman ‘Atlantes Neerlandici’ I p. 61 & 341:53, II Lan 7 pp. 252-8; Van der Krogt IIIA 341.53; Phillips, Atlases 3409; Shirley BL T.LAN 1e.