Toledo, Antique Map from "Civitates Orbis Terrarum"

Braun G., Hogenberg F., " Toledo", from the collection " Civitates Orbis Terrarum" , Cologne, T. Graminaeus, 1572-1617. Image Dim: cm 19 x 48 , Dim: cm 22. 5 x 52.5 .

Very nice B/W Aquatint  representing a View of Toledo from the opposite hills, on the other shore of the river Tajo. Presented in the table as “ Capital of the Kingdom of Spain ” (the capital moved under Philip II at this moment 1561 precisely ). Very good conditions , with a usual medial fold.

The “Civitates Orbis Terrarum” ( Atlas of Cities of the World ) was the second oldest printed atlas in the history of world cartography and the first atlas totally dedicated to topographical views. The first volume of this collection was published in Cologne in 1572; the others following in 1575, 1581, 1588 and 1598. The sixth and final volume appeared in 1617, just before the extensive devastation wreaked by the Thirty Years’War.

“ The most original and magnificent of all city-atlases, which drew on the work of accomplished topographical artists; and…reproduced it in pictorial compositions of great charm and individuality”. R.A.Skelton