Angliae Scotiae et Hibernie Nova Descriptio by DE JODE, Gerard (1509-1591)

[Antwerp: Cornelis de Jode, 1593]. Single sheet float mounted and framed (17 x 21 4/8 inches; 13 6/8 x 19 6/8 inches to the neat line). Fine engraved map of the British Isles and a portion of the French coastline, oriented to the west, with the title in a fine mannerist cartouche top right, and the text from George Lily's 1546 map within a similar cartouche lower right, the sea decorated with four beautiful sailing ships (washed). A BEAUTIFUL AND DETAILED EARLY MAP OF THE BRITISH ISLES AT THE END OF ELIZABETH I'S GLORIOUS REIGN. The second edition with "Cum Privilegio" beneath the Lily text, and "fol. 32" on the verso. First issued in Gerard de Jode's "Speculum Geographicum Totius Germaniae Imperium Representans..." published in 1570. De Jode " was a well established map seller in Antwerp and had been publishing maps since the early 1550's. Some of de Jode's maps are cartographically superior to those of his rival Abraham Ortelius, but de Jode's British Isles is [relatively - ed, but not really at all] disappointing. It is a plain copy of the Mercator outline (also used by Ortelius) with a dull lack of decoration. The map first appeared in de Jode's rare atlas of Germany and Holland, which is undated but can be ascribed with confidence to 1570. There is one large panel which repeats the descriptive text accompanying the 1546 Lily map, and some sketchily engraved ships placed in the stippled sea. In de Jode's later atlas, the 'Speculum Orbis Terrarum', some of the maps were richly engraved by the brothers Joannes and Lucas van Doetecum but it seems more likely that the British Isles map was executed by another hand, possibly de Jode himself. In its early 1570 state the map was printed without text on the back and lacks the words 'Cum Privilegio' below the main panel" (Shirley 85). Born in Nijmegen in 1509, Cornelis de Jode was a cartographer, engraver, printer and publisher based in Antwerp, then one of the major commercial capitals of Europe. Little is known of his early training or education, and it was not until well into his 30s, in 1547, that de Jode was admitted to the Guild of St. Luke and became a print seller. In 1550 he was licensed as a printer. He printed Jacopo Gastaldi's map of the world in 1555, Jacob van Deventer's map of Brabant in 1558, maps by Bartholomeus Musinus, Fernando Alvares Seco, and (before they became competitors) Abraham Ortelius's eight-sheet map of the world (1564). Shirley 173..