The Mercator Atlas of Europe [Hardcover]

Marcel Watelet (Editor), James R. Akerman (Author), Mireille Pastoureau (Author), Arthur Durst (Author), Peter M. Barber (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English, Latin (translation)
Original Language: Dutch

Product Details

• Hardcover: 92 pages
• Publisher: Walking Tree Pr; Spi Map edition (April 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0965973573
• ISBN-13: 978-0965973571
• Product Dimensions: 16.8 x 11.5 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,342,384 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Atlas Extraordinaire--Review in "Mercator's World" magazine, May 19, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Mercator Atlas of Europe (Hardcover)

...Those not able to visit the relic in person can examine a facsimile of the one-of-a-kind atlas, compiled by Mercator around 1570, with an inaugural release by Walking Tree Press. The seventeen replica maps are accompanied by a richly illustrated, large-format book - published previously in French and Dutch - featuring essays by an international team of map scholars.

The authors leave no aspect of the fascinating history of the "Atlas of Europe" unexamined...The seventeen frameable facsimile maps are newly color-corrected and expertly printed. The text illustrations are drawn from collections throughout Europe and the United States. The hefty volume, stored in its own green slipcase, provides readers with a tactile adventure --something that tends to be overlooked in modern publishing - as well as a feast for the eyes and mind. Walking Tree's elegant edition combines the high art of maps with first-rate scholarly pursuits - a marvelous union Mercator would endorse. --- "Mercator's World" November/December 1997

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Review in the January 1998 issue of Midwest Book Review, May 19, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Mercator Atlas of Europe (Hardcover)

Born Gerhard Kremer of German parents in the town of Rapelmonde near Antwerp on March 5, 1512, Gerardus Mercator (like many other intellectuals of his time, very early in his life Latinized his German name) was a mapmaker, scholar, and religious thinker whose interests ranged from mathematics to calligraphy to the origin of the universe.

In 1544 he fell victim to the Inquisition, partly due to his Protestant beliefs and partly due to suspicions aroused by his wide travels in search of data for his maps. He was fortunate to be released after seven months with the charges of heresy lifted and his head and limbs still intact.

His 1564 wall map of the British Isles (included in his atlas) was the first detailed and accurate geographical picture of those islands -- and was used by a Scottish traitor to help France and Spain invade Britain and overthrow the Protestant Tudors. Mercator was one of the first mapmakers to cut up maps and bind them inside boards, later coining the term 'atlas' to refer to such collection of maps. One of the most revolutionary inventions in the history of cartography, Mercator's cylindrical world map projections (first used in 1569) enabled navigators to plot a long course in straight lines and has greatly influenced our image of the world to this very day.

In 1967 an anonymous buyer purchased a large, tattered book of maps in a second-hand bookshop in Belgium and unknowingly brought to the present a long-lost atlas by this renowned 16th century cartographer. The Mercator Atlas of Europe: Facsimile of the Maps By Gerardus Mercator Contained In The Atlas Of Europe, Circa 1570-1572 is a beautiful book showcasing seventeen facsimile map prints (suitable for framing) and a large-format 96-page book with 100 illustrations (80 in color). The Mercator Atlas of Europe is an ideal and highly recommended memorial fund acquisition selection for academic and community libraries.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Review in the June 1998 issue of "Discover" magazine, May 19, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Mercator Atlas of Europe (Hardcover)

When a collector bought a ragged book of maps in a secondhand Belgian bookstore in 1967, he had no idea he had turned up a lost cartographic treasure: an early atlas created by the sixteenth-century cartographer Gerardus Mercator. The 17 maps, reprinted for the first time - in exquisite, full-size facsimiles tucked with an opulent book into a slipcase - are justifiably pricey. Margaret Foley, "Discover" magazine, June 1998