Londinum Feracissimi Angliae Regni Metropolis 1574

Second edition of the map view of London which was included in the first volume of the Civitates Orbis Terrarum, published in Cologne in 1572. The sixth and final volume appeared in 1617. Edited by Georg Braun, and eventually containing 546 prospects of cities from all over the world, the atlas was the first of its type. The first volume concentrated on European cities, 79 in all. Braun, a cleric of Cologne, was the principal editor of the compendium, and was greatly assisted in his task by the close and continued interest of Abraham Ortelius, whose Theatrum Orbis Terrarum of 1570 a systematic and comprehensive collection of maps produced to a standard format was the first true atlas. To complete the series over a hundred artists and cartographers were employed to produce the maps and the majority were engraved by Frans Hogenberg (1535-1590) the son of a Munich engraver who settled in Malines. Although the London view was published in 1572 it shows the city at an earlier date, as St Paul's Cathedral is shown complete with its spire which was destroyed by lightning in 1561.