Name: Volume Eight of ‘The Polyglot Bible’
Author: Benedictus Arias Montanus

The Sunderland Collection

This second issue also includes Montanus’s intriguing double-page engraved map of the world, here shown in the second state, with the word 'gentes' added to the panel lower left.  It illustrates how the world was repopulated by Noah's three sons - Sem, Cham, and Japhet - and is based on cartography by Giacomo Gastaldi, with North America and Asia linked by a prominent land bridge. Australia is located in approximation, thirty-four years before its official discovery by Dutch nivagator William Janzoon aboard the 'Dufykin' ('Little Dove') in 1606 has been a source of much speculation.

This richly detailed, famous map of the world by Benedictus Arias Montanus was first printed in Volume Eight of his Polyglot Bible, shown here. It illustrates the Judeo-Christian theory that the world was repopulated by Noah's sons - Sem, Cham and Japhet - following the biblical Flood mentioned in the Book of Genesis. The map is based on cartography by Giacomo Gastaldi (c.1500–1566), with North America and Asia linked by a prominent land bridge.

The engraving of Montanus's map is exceptionally fine. Delicately rendered sea monsters and galleons decorate the oceans, which are filled with precise waves. Eight windheads watch over the map – named in Latin, Greek and Hebrew.

Montanus had been ordered to create this Bible by King Philip II of Spain (1556–1598). It contains text in Hebrew, Greek, Latin and Syriac. In addition to this world map, Volume Eight contains maps of the Holy Land and of Israel, eleven engraved plates of Old Testaments subjects including Noah’s Ark, the Tabernacle and two of the Temple of Moses, as well as a full-page map of ancient Jerusalem.

Montanus’ famous double-hemisphere map of the world, first appeared in the eighth volume of a polyglot Bible, which came to be known as the ‘Sacrae Regia’ ('The Royal Bible'), published between 1569 and 1572. Tragically, a large proportion of the entire printing of the final eighth volume was lost at sea on its way to Spain, therefore the first issue is very rare.

The publisher of the Bible, Christopher Plantin (1520–1589), lived in Antwerp, the centre of the Dutch Revolt against Spanish rule in the Netherlands. In order to persuade the Habsburgs of his sworn loyalty, he published a number of works dedicated to the Spanish Kings Philip II and III, including the ‘Sacra Regia’, and a Spanish language edition of Abraham Ortelius’s atlas, the ‘Theatro’ in 1588.

Hemisphere world map

Frontispiece

Title page

Text leaf with embellished letter C

Map of Canaan

Map of the Holy Land

External dimensions of Noah's Ark

The sacred tabernacle

External coverings and decoration of the tomb of Christ

Sacred Judaic objects including the Arc of the Covenant and a Menorah

Eastern tribes of Israel including Manasses

Architectural sketch, building plan for a church

Temple exterior

Map of ancient Jerusalem and surrounding landscape

Title page to Biblical index with embellised letters

Text leaf with embellished letter N

This work includes the famous and intriguing double-page engraved map of the world titled ‘Benedict Arias Montanus Sacrae Geographiae Tabulam ex antiquissimorum cultor familiis a Mose recensitis ... Aø. 1571’, which shows how the world was repopulated by Noah’s sons after the Flood spoken of in the Book of Genesis. The map features an anonymous landmass with unfinished coastlines where Northern Australia is now known to be.