Oropitum

Miniature map prepared for the Italian edition of the Epitome theatri Orteliani, a reduction of the maps of Abraham Ortelius' Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, first published in Antwerp by Philip Galle in 1577 under the title Spieghel der werelt (Mirror of the World). In 1593, also in Antwerp, the Theatro del mondo, the Italian edition of the work edited by Galle, came to light.

In 1598, Pietro Maria Marchetti, printed in Brescia his Theatro del mondo, a "pirate" edition of Galle's original work, accompanied by 109 maps made by copying the originals. The maps were engraved by an anonymous artist and inserted into a page of Italian text and were also used to illustrate Giovanni Botero's "Relationi universali" also published in Brescia in 1599. A reprint of the same Relationi is also known, published by Alessandro Vecchi in Venice in 1618 and again in Giovanni M. Turrini's "Theatro del mondo" (1655), and Scipione Banca (1657); the latter two editions bear the descriptive text on the verso of the map.

Map taken from Scipione Banca's "Theatro del mondo" (1657).

Copperplate engraving, in very good condition. Rare.

Bibliografia

G. King, Miniature Antique Maps, pp. 78-79; Alberto Satolli, Imago VV, Le rappresentazioni della città di Orvieto dalle origini ad oggi, p. 126, tav. XXXVIII.