Metellus, Johannes

(10 15/16 x 7 3/16 in.; 277 x 182 mm to 10 15/16 x 14 3/8 in.; 277 x 364 mm ). 12 double-page maps with accompanying Latin text, head- and tailpieces; folds strengthened with Japanese tissue and mounted on new stubs, minor foxing generally not affecting maps, one map with small tear with minor loss (Tartaria), minor worming. Bound together in later full brown calf, covers with boarders in blindstamp, spine with raised bands in six compartments, label to second with gilt title and rules; some fading to spine. 

Tibbetts 59; Walter 20

FIRST EDITION. Johannes Matalius Metellus (ca. 1517-1597), was a French jurist who spent his early life traveling in Italy. Later Metellus moved to Louvain. Around 1579, he became involved in Cologne's cartographic publishing industry, when he is thought to have contributed to the Itinerarium Orbis Christiani. "His map of Japan is the earliest known copy of Teixeira's map, which had appeared in Ortelius", Walter 20) and Arabia (Tibbetts 59).