The term “atlas” comes from the name of a mythological Greek figure, Atlas. As punishment for fighting with the Titans against the gods, Atlas was forced to hold up the planet Earth and the heavens on his shoulders. Because Atlas was often depicted on ancient maps, these became known as atlases.

On May 20, 1570, Flemish cartographer Abraham Ortelius published his map book ‘Theatrum Orbis Terrarum’. This groundbreaking book contains 53 map sheets that cover the entire world, and it’s considered the “world’s first book of maps” because it was the first to reduce the best available maps of the era to a uniform format. As a result, it was an immediate commercial success.

The term ATLAS would not have come into play for 25 years, when Gerard Mercator’s ‘Atlas sive Cosmographicae meditationes de fabrica mvndi et fabricati figvra’ was published in 1595. On the title page, Mercator included the figure of a man with one globe between his hands and one lying on the ground:

Have a look at some important atlases published between 1513 and the 18th century.

• See our atlases available for sale