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Johannes Vreints map of Iceland, circa 1601

The atlas, Theatrum orbis terrarum , by Abraham Ortelius was a large book and rather expensive. So it was not very long before someone started making it more accessible to the public by reducing the maps. This new version of the collection, called Epitome , was published in many languages. Here we see a map from an edition of the Epitome by Johannes Vrients. The change in size has claimed many of the place-names and all the creatures in the sea.

Raffaelo Savanarola map of Iceland, circa 1713

In the 16th century there were published in Italy many so-called Island descriptions. One of those was L´Isole piu famose del Mondo by Thomaso Porcacchi. The book contains a map of Iceland made by Girolamo Porro. The map, printed after an engraving, is well done. Porro, has like many others cartographers, sought his example to Olaus Magnus´ map of the North. Corrections have been made, for instance the see at Hólar has been moved to its right place in the north. A few items have been taken from the Zeno map, including the seven islandsoff the east coast.
In 1713 the map was reprinted in the map collection of Raffaelo Savanarola, Universus terrarum orbis , and this is a map from that publication that is shown here.

Sample images and text from the Ancient Maps of Iceland site at the National Library of Iceland.

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