• Title : Cypri Insulae Nova Descript 1573
• Date : 1573
• Size: 20 3/4in x 15in (525mm x 382mm)
• Ref #:  70794
• Condition: (A+) Fine Condition

Description:
This extremely handsome and much sort after original antique map of the Island of Cyprus was published by Abraham Ortelius in 1573. There were a total of 6275 of these maps published between 1573 and 1641, with approx. 10% surviving to this day.
This actual map is a true first edition or state (1573IG39A), of 3 states, with German text & page number 39A on the verso.

General Definitions:
Paper thickness and quality: - Heavy and stable
Paper color : - off white
Age of map color: - Original
Colors used: - Yellow, green, blue, pink
General color appearance: - Authentic
Paper size: - 20 3/4in x 15in (525mm x 382mm)
Plate size: - 19 3/4in x 14in (500mm x 355mm)
Margins: - Min 1/2in (12mm)

Imperfections:
Margins: - None
Plate area: - None
Verso: - None

Background: 
A milestone in the history of the cartography of Cyprus, based on a 1570 map by Giacomo Franco. The map is embellished by sailing ships and a sea monster, bearing a map of the Greek Island of Lemnos in an inset mp at bottom right, based on the written account by Pierre Belon in 1555. Signed in the plate by the Dutch engraver Joannes van Doetecum

Cyprus is an island country in the Eastern Mediterranean and the third largest and third most populous island in the Mediterranean. It is located south of Turkey, west of Syria and Lebanon, northwest of Israel, north of Egypt, and southeast of Greece.
The earliest known human activity on the island dates to around the 10th millennium BC. Archaeological remains from this period include the well-preserved Neolithic village of Khirokitia, and Cyprus is home to some of the oldest water wells in the world. Cyprus was settled by Mycenaean Greeksin two waves in the 2nd millennium BC. As a strategic location in the Middle East, it was subsequently occupied by several major powers, including the empires of the Assyrians, Egyptians and Persians, from whom the island was seized in 333 BC by Alexander the Great. Subsequent rule by Ptolemaic Egypt, the Classical and Eastern Roman Empire, Arabcaliphates for a short period, the French Lusignan dynasty and the Venetians, was followed by over three centuries of Ottoman rule between 1571 and 1878.