This map beautifully engraved by Jons van Deutecum is one of those which first appeared in 1578. It depicts the eastern Mediterranean Sea with special emphasis on Greece and Asia Minor. It includes also the islands of Cyprus and Crete. It is however unclear as to its exact origins. The closest we have been able to find is unsigned and survives in just three known examples most famously in the Doria Lafreri atlas. It is only identified by the imprint of Venice 1570 and is listed in Tooley as no. 37. Its coverage is slightly further west than De Jode’s map extending half way up the Italian peninsula. This map is decorated with three ships in the Mediterranean and one (Noah’s Ark) on top of Mount Ararat! There are two separate titles indicating that it may also have been compiled from two earlier maps. The map takes on special significance when you bear in mind that through much of the middle sixteenth century the Ottoman Empire was at war with Venice.

Gerard de Jode (1509-91) was born in Nijmegen but started his career in Antwerp as a printer and engraver. He also bought and sold maps and was a frequent attendee at the Frankfurt book fair. Many of the maps he acquired formed the basis for his ‘Speculum Orbis Terrarum’ of 1578. He was up against the competition of Abraham Ortelius’ ‘Theatrum Orbis Terrarum’ which had an 8 year advantage on him. Despite the fact that De Jode was 18 years his senior and that in 1564 he had published the Ortelius world map in 8 sheets their relationship turned sour. Ortelius used his influential contacts and more aggressive marketing to promote his own work and delay that of de Jode. Correspondence survives indicating de Jode’s application for a licence was rejected, probably until that of Ortelius’ expired. The first edition is of great rarity. Gerard de Jode died in 1591 and the business was carried on by his widow and his son, Cornelis. He was more of a publisher than an engraver but it was enough for his revised and enlarged second edition to prove more popular. Koeman (1967-70) Jod 2 no. 16; Van der Krogt (1997-2003) 8100:32; Meurer (2004) no. 94; Tooley ‘Lafreri maps’, in ‘Imago Mundi’ no. 3; Zacharakis (1992) no. 1164.