1581 GUICCIARDINI, L - Descrittione di M. Lodovico Guicciardini patritio Fiorentino, di tutti i Paesi Bassi,...

Second Italian edition (variant B) and first Plantin edition (1st Silvius 1567) and the most sought-after edition of the famous description of the Low Countries, updated by the author with the recent drastic changes in the region's history.

Illustrated with engraved plates : title, coats-of-arms of the 17 Provinces with coat-of-arms of Philip II pasted on in the middle, portrait of Philip II pasted on in the middle of a baroque architectural setting with between the allegorical presentation of Arts and Sciences, the compass of Plantin, on verso the coat-of-arms and device of Guicciardini, elaborate frontispiece (allegorical representation of the Netherlands with the 3 rivers), 57 plates including 1 general map of the Netherlands and 56 plates representing maps of each province and city plans and views of the towns.

Probably Ortelius' copy of Lodovico Guicciardini's ''Descittione di tutti Paesi Bassi''.

The two plates (Tournai and Cambrai), who are usually not yet included, are present in this example. The verso of the plates have a printed text "per causa della guerra non s'e ancor' potuto habere il ritratto di questa Citta al naturale", and in a manuscript in a conteporary hand ''ma s'e havuta di poi per cortesia del S.or Abramo Ortelio geographo regio et postasi come si vede al suo luogo." [

but it was later obtained through the courtesy of the S.or Abramo Ortelio geographo regio and was placed as seen in its place]

With further annotations in Italian handwriting on pp. 440 and 470.

It seems to be an acknowledgment by L. Guicciardini himself to Abraham Ortelius, the royal geographer, for having him provide the missing plates of Tournai and Cambrai. 

Ludovico Guicciardini was a nobleman from Florence who lived and worked in the Low Countries and died at Antwerp in 1589. His present work was translated into French, Dutch, Latin, -and even German and English throughout the sixteenth and part of the 17th century, and all editions were in folio. The illustrations in the numerous editions vary greatly and were often renewed or replaced.

Plantin ordered entirely new plates, specially engraved for his editions, in 1581, mostly by the brothers Hogenberg, the famous engravers of Ortelius's atlas. Many new and updated city plans are included. 

Braun and Hogenberg used the illustrations of this most important work in their 'Civitates Orbis Terrarum'.

The book is divided into sections, each devoted to a particular, with emphasis on the topography of the various regions and the region. It really is a sophisticated traveler's guide, with emphasis on the topography of the various regions and the major cities, and beautifully illustrated by plans and views.

Including a fine print of the Antwerp Exchange. But the book comprehensively covers all aspects of contemporary life in each area as well, including an extensive treatment of the fine arts, trade and the commercial concerns of each region. 

"It is well known that during his lifetime, Ortelius gradually filled his house with substantial collections of various art forms.

He also accumulated a large library of printed books, books with maps, loose maps, portolan charts, manuscript maps and manuscript texts.

Unusually for the time, Ortelius recorded his cartographical sources and the books and authors he consulted for his maps and writings in a Catalogus auctorum, but much can also be discovered from the texts on the verso of the maps in the Theatrum orbis terrarum, and from the Synonymia and Thesauri, his correspondence and the ledgers in the Plantin Moretus Museum, in which Ortelius’s transactions with Christophe Plantin were recorded. Some of Ortelius’s library books, identified by his signature, have survived.

From all these sources it is estimated that Ortelius owned about 5,965 maps and 3,514 books written by about 2,892 authors, making his library one of the largest, if not the largest, private collections of books and maps in sixteenth-century Europe…. We know, for instance, that he owned Lodovico Guicciardini's Descittione di tutti Paesi Bassi…" (Imago Mundi, 66).

Reference: Guicciardini Illustratus, 5 B