Asiae Nova Descriptio: Ortelius 1579

Title: Asiae Nova Descriptio Author: Abraham Ortelius Date: 1579 Medium: Hand-colored copperplate engraving Condition: Very Good Inches: 26 x 21 1/2 [Plate Mark] Centimeters: 66.67 x 55.13 [Plate Mark] Product ID: 003198 Map of Asia, including India, present-day Sri Lanka, the Arabian Peninsula, Anatolia (present-day Turkey), Egypt, Russia, Japan, and Pacific islands such as Borneo and New Guinea. Bodies of water depicted include the Mediterranean Sea, the Black Sea, the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf, the Indian Ocean, and the Bay of Bengal. Abraham Ortelius was a true Renaissance man. He served as Cosmographer to Phillip II, King of Spain, and in addition worked as a book dealer, cartographer, numismatist, naturalist, and historian. He had wide interests in classical scholarship and made his fortune in bookmaking and selling. He spoke six languages and had reasonable command of two others. He was without doubt one of the most prominent citizens of Antwerp in the late-sixteenth