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Acquired from antiquarian bookshop H.P. Kraus, New York
Acquisition 1994
Date 1549-1607
Size Letter sizes
Signature 79 C 4
Abraham Ortelius (1527- 1598) has earned fame as a cartographer. His name is associated with the atlas Theatrum orbis terrarum, which was published in Antwerp in 1570. Ortelius was not simply a traditional mapmaker, however; a scholarly editor-in-chief would be a more fitting description. He was the first to successfully capture the available knowledge of the world in maps of a uniform size, bind these maps together in a single book and distribute them using the printing press. Ortelius relied on an extremely vast network of correspondents for his information. The correspondence featured here illustrates this network.
Titles of books are mentioned in 35 of the 163 letters, not only in instances where the works were being returned - along with thanks for the loan -, but also when a new and better source of information about countries or cities had been discovered. Many letters accompany books that were purchased for Ortelius. To fill the shelves of his library, he worked with agents who bought books for him in Madrid, Rome, Venice (publications by Aldus Manutius), London, Cologne, Leiden and of course at Germany's famous book fair, the Frankfurter Buchmesse.
A considerable number of correspondents wrote to ask Ortelius his opinion on a manuscript or to request him to put in a good word with a printer/publisher, for example with Plantijn.
Ortelius' letters to his nephew and heir Jacob Cool were deeply personal. His last letter to him concluded: 'Farewell, I will not write again, for every day I am closer to death.' The letter is dated 24 January 1598. The scholar died on 28 June of that year.
Cool donated Ortelius' correspondence to the Dutch Church of Austin Friars in London. This exchange of letters was published by J.H. Hessels in the nineteenth century and contains 322 pieces. Suffering from a lack of funds, the Dutch Church was forced to sell the letters in 1955. Approximately half of the correspondence is now part of the Koninkijke Bibliotheek collection. The other half became scattered between 1955 and 1994.
(AL)
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