Ortelius Online at the National Library of the Netherlands

World map from Ortelius, Theatrum Orbis Terrarum
Koninklijke Bibliotheek

The National Library of the Netherlands has an online version of Ortelius’s 16th-century atlas, the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum. In Dutch only. (From what I understand it’s not the only digitization of this work available online: see the atlas’s Wikipedia page for links to additional sites.) [Maps Mania]

Humphrey Llwyd Exhibition in Wales

Humphrey Llwyd, “Cambriae Typus,” from Ortelius, Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, 1574. Map, 472 × 347 mm. National Library of Wales.

An exhibition celebrating Welsh author and cartographer Humphrey Llwyd (1527-1568) is taking place at the National Library of Wales: BBC News, press release. Among other things, Llwyd produced the first published map of Wales (rather than as a part of another map), the Cambriae Typus, which appeared as an addendum to Ortelius’s Theatrum Orbis Terrarum in 1573. The exhibition runs until the 31st at the Library in Aberystwyth; admission is free. The Library’s digital version of the map is available here.

The Correspondence of Abraham Ortelius

typus-orbis-terrarum
Abraham Ortelius, Typus Orbis Terrarum, 1570. Library of Congress.

A catalogue of the correspondence of Abraham Ortelius (1527–1598), the Flemish cartographer responsible for the first modern atlas, the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, is now available. Ortelius’ letters are scattered about the world in various collections; the catalogue is just that, a catalogue, not a digital archive—where digital copies do exist there are links to them, but otherwise in-person library research is still required. (The principal researcher, Joost Depuydt, recently published an article on Ortelius’ correspondence in Imago Mundi.) [via]