Note 57 — Chapter I

[Ortelius was not far from thirty years old, when Sebastian Cabot died. He had been in England, and possibly had seen the old navigator. Felix Van Hulst’s account of Ortelius was published in a second edition at Liege in 1846. Ortelius was the first to collect contemporary maps and combine them into a collection, which became the precursor of the modern atlas. His learning and integrity, with a discrimination that kept his judgment careful, has made his book valuable as a trustworthy record of the best geographical knowledge of his time. His position at Antwerp was favorable for broadening his research, and a disposition to better each succeeding issue, in which he was not hampered by deficiency of pecuniary resources, served to spread his work widely. The first Latin edition of 1570 was followed by others in that language, and in Dutch, German, French, and Italian, with an ever-increasing number of maps, and recasting of old ones. These editions, including epitomes, numbered at least twenty-six, down to 1606, when it was for the first time put into English, followed by an epitome in the same language, with smaller maps, in 1610. There were a few editions on the continent during the rest of that century (the latest we note is an Italian one in 1697), but other geographers with their new knowledge were then filling the field.—Ed.]