Southern Africa by Petrus Bertius c.1618

Copperplate engraving.

Petrus Bertius (1565-1629).
He was connected by marriage to Jodocus Hondius and Pieter van den Keere, his brothers-in-law and both cartographers, and this would influence his later life.

In 1618, Bertius became a cosmographer and historiographer for Louis XIII of France. He lived in Paris, where he died in 1629.

Petrus Bertius's remarkable work ethic is evident in the numerous geographical and theological works he produced. His fame among geographers was established by his text in the pocket atlas Tabularum Geographicarum and by his edition of Ptolemy's Geographia. The origin of the Tabularum Geographicum lies in the well-known miniature atlas Caert thresoor, published by Barent Langenes in 1598 in Middelburg. Bertius engraved 169 maps for this small but attractive atlas, sold for the first time in 1599 by Cornelis Claesz in Amsterdam.

198mm x 120mm

R4.500