A Special Collections Exhibition
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Uniformly- Composed Collections of Maps, Charts and Plans |
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Facsimile
of a chart of the Portuguese coast from Waghenaer,
Spieghel der Zeevaert, 1584
In
1570, Ortelius had published a uniform collection of land-maps, and in 1584
Lucas Jansz Waghenaer published at Leyden a similar collection of sea-charts.
This collection also went through many editions, being known in English as The
Mariner’s Mirror, or sometimes as a “Waggoner.” Our image shows part
of the chart of the coast of Portugal, including soundings in the water and (at
the top of the page) “landfalls,” or images of what the skyline would look
like from various angles.
This collection soon became indispensable to mariners, who could take the
compact atlas on board their frail vessels. It spread over the whole of Europe,
so that when the ships of the Spanish Armada sailed for England in 1588, many of
the greater ships carried manuscript copies of Waghenaer’s chart of the
English Channel.
© Special Collections Division
The University of Texas at Arlington Libraries
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