The Sunderland Collection

Cornelis de Jode died in 1600 at the age of thirty-two, after which the plates were purchased by the then-publisher of 

's 'Theatrum',  Jean Baptista Vrints, who must have bought them to prevent any further competition. He did, however, have to face the increasing competition from 

'. Despite the difficulties surrounding the publication of the 'Speculum'. It must have had a good reputation, and Petrus Montanus mentions it in the same breath with Mercator's '

' and Ortelius' 'Theatrum' in his preface to Pieter Kaerius' 'Germaniae Inferior'.

This atlas includes two spectacular new world maps. The first, 'Totius Orbis Cogniti Universalis Descriptio' ('A Universal Description of the Whole Known World') includes an imprint at the bottom states that the map was made by Cornelis de Jode in November 1589 at the Academy of Douai and published or printed by his father 

. The world is shown on a rectangular projection, attributed to Marinus of Tyre, the title, and caption within a decorative frame along the top, with two small hemispheres inset on either side, the geographic features follow those of 

, the two smaller maps showing the western and eastern hemispheres on Roger Bacon's circular projection.

The second, 'Hemispheriu ab Aequinoctiali Linea, ad Circulu Poli Arctici... ad Circulu Poli Atarctici' (‘The Hemisphere from the Equinoctial Line to the Arctic Circle... to the Antarctic Pole Circle') is one of only a few at this early date drawn as two hemispheres on north and south polar projections. Surrounding each hemisphere is an elaborate border of cherubs and clouds, on this map heightened in silver, albeit oxidized.

Cornelius de Jode’s atlas also included ten of the maps of his own design, including some of the most iconic. Two maps of North America: 'Americae Pars Borealis’ (‘North America’) and ‘Florida, Baccalaos, Canada, Corterealis', are the first folio-sized atlas map to focus on North America, showing Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas, and maritime Canada. North America is dominated by a large Northwest Passage, which connects to the single 'Lago de Conibus' (‘Conibus Lake’). Three small freshwater lakes are also shown but no Great Lakes. There are insets of six native inhabitants and also a European caravel firing on natives with bows and arrows.

'Alaska Quivire Regnu cum alijs Versus Borea' is the first published map devoted to the west and northwest coasts of North America from below the Tropic of Cancer to the North Pole, adorned with mythical sea creatures and ships.

Another new map of China, 'China Regnum' (The Kingdom of China), is the third western map of China, based on the Barbuda model, but recast in a north-south orientation. The map shows north-eastern Tartary and inner Asia, presumably also derived from Jesuit sources, although de Jode also acknowledges Juan Gonzalez de Mendoza and Giovanni Pietro de Maffei as sources for the map.

Perhaps most notable is Cornelius’ map of northern Australia and New Guinea, 'Novae Guineae Forma et Situs’. De Jode states: ‘This region is even today almost unknown, because after the first and second voyages all have avoided from sailing thither so that it is doubtful even until today whether it is a continent or an island.’ The sailors called this region New Guinea because its coasts, state, and conditions are similar in many respects to the African Guinea. Andreas Cosalius seems to call it Peccinacolij. 

After this region, the huge southern land follows which – as soon as it is once known – will represent a fifth continent, so vast and immense is it deemed. In the east the Solomon Islands join up, in the north the South Lazarus Archipelago; it takes its beginning at two or three degrees south of the equator. In the west, it is, if not an island, connected with the Australian continent. 

Although a version of a map of South America had appeared in the first 1578 edition of the 'Speculum', 'Brasilia et Peruvia', is worthy of attention. Midway between the equator and Tropic of Capricorn, just to the west of the walled Brazilian village, is a ‘Lake Dorado’, an early appearance of the fabled realm of El Dorado, and the site where explorer Orellana discovered a river where his men were allegedly attacked by a tribe of female warriors, and so named the river Amazon, marked by de Jode just to the east of El Dorado.

This stunning copy of Gerard de Jode's 1593 world atlas has been luxuriously coloured by a master colourist and heightened in gold and silver, a style known as 'Fuerstenkolorit'. It is the second, enlarged edition of this work, which was prepared by de Jode but completed by his son Cornelius de Jode. The first edition had been intended as a direct challenge to Abraham Ortelius's own atlas.

Cornelius de Jode was responsible for ten of the newly added 'modern' maps, including the first world map, two maps of North America, a new map of China, and a map of Australia and New Guinea. All of the maps in this atlas have been etched with great skill and contain charming embellishments and decorative elements.

Gerard de Jode was a prolific cartographer, engraver, and publisher working in Antwerp, Netherlands. This atlas was published by his son, Cornelis de Jode, who continued his father’s publishing business after he passed. The use of ‘Fuerstenkolorit’ in Cornelis de Jode's work refers to the vibrant and luxurious color schemes employed in his maps and illustrations, used to highlight the new information he presented in the cartography as well as fanciful elements such as the dragons and lizards in the waters surrounding Australia and New Guinea.

Mercator projection world map 

Polar projection world map 

Map of South America 

Map of Africa 

Map of the Mediterranean 

Map of Asia

Map of Europe

Map of the Middle East, Asia

Map of the Gulf of Persia and the Indian Ocean, Asia

Map of Southeast Asia, 3rd map of Asia

Disk shaped map of China, India and Japan

Map of New Guinea 

Map of the Holy Land

Detailed map of holy sites in Palestine

Map of the Balkans

Map of Greece

Map of Sicily and Sardinia 

Map of Italy 

Map of Naples

Map of Veneto and Lazio (Padua and Rome)

Map of Corfu and regions in Italy

Map of Parma and Ancona in Italy 

Map of France

Berry province France 

Burgundy province France 

Map of Gaul, Belgium

Limagne, France and Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France Maps

Map of Lower Normandy

Map of Nouvelle-Aquitaine

Map of Spain

Map of Portugal 

Map of England and Scotland 

Map of Gipuzkoa, Spain

Frontispiece

The Roman Empire

The Roman Empire pt 2

Map of German

Map of Scandinavia 

Map of Norway

Map of the main regions in Europe

Map showing part of Poland and Sweden

Map showing the countries of the Saxons

Map of Livonia

Map of the Kingdom of Poland 

Map of Bohemia 

Map of modern day Austria

Map of the Silesia and oswieczime regions

Map of Hungary

Map of Austria 

Map of the Austrian Empire

Mysia region

Map of Croatia 

Map of the Carinthia and Styria region in Austira in disks

Map of the Tyrol region in Austria

Map of Saltzburg region, Austria

Map of Swabia, historical region in Germany

Map of Basel

Map of Bavaria 

Map of Württemberg and the Palatine region of Germany

Map of the Danube pt 1

Map of the Danube pt 2

Map of Thuringia, Germany

Map of the Franconian region

Map of Rhineland 

Map of Hessen, Germany

Map of Switzerland 

The lower part of Germany

Mansfeld County, Germany pt 1

Mansfeld County, Germany pt 2

Map of Waldeck, Germany

Drenthe region, the Netherlands

Lorraine, the Netherlands

Lower part of Germany containing Belgian Gaul

Map of Lützen, Germany

The episcopate of Leodia containing within itself the duchy of Bovillon

Gelderland, Netherlands 

East Fresia, Germany

Holland

Zealand

Belgium

Flanders

Artois region, France

Map of Hainaut, Belgium

Berlinghieri's Ptolemaic World Map in Contemporary Colour

Second and enlarged edition, with an additional twenty-two maps not found in the first edition of 1578. An extraordinary example, with the majority of the maps and both plates, luxuriously coloured, heightened in gold and silver, to a style known as 'Fuerstenkolorit', reserved for the most noble libraries. This example of the 'Speculum…' is one of a very, very few coloured by a master colourist and shows an exceptional luminance: all cities are dotted in gold; the mythical creatures, ships, fish, and figures are painted with the finest brushes and exquisitely heightened in silver and gold.

A Mirror of the World

Speculum Orbis Terrae

De Jode's Atlas in 'Furstenkolorit'