Editing Theatrum Orbis Terrarum (section)

==Contents==
The atlas contained virtually no maps from the hand of Ortelius, but 53 bundled maps of other masters, with the source as indicated. Previously, groupings of disparate maps were only released as custom lots, to individual order. In the Ortelius atlas, however, the maps were all in the same style and of the same size, printed from copper plates, logically arranged by continent, region and state. In addition to the maps he provided a descriptive comment and referrals on the reverse. This was the first time that the entirety of Western European knowledge of the world was brought together in one book.

In the bibliography, in the section 'Catalogus Auctorum', not only were the 33 cartographers mentioned whose work was recorded in the Theatrum (which at the time was not yet customary), but also the total of 87 cartographers of the 16th century that Ortelius knew. This list grew in every Latin Edition, and included no less than 183 names in 1601. Among the sources the following are mentioned: for the world map, the ''World Map'' (1561) by [[Giacomo Gastaldi]]; the ''porto Avenue of the Atlantic coast'' (1562) by [[Diego Gutiérrez (cartographer)|Diego Gutierrez]], the ''world map'' (1569) of [[Gerardus Mercator]], which have eight maps derived from the Theatrum.{{clarify|date=May 2019}}

For the map of Europe, ''wall map'' (1554). of the Mercator ''map of Scandinavia'' (1539) by Olaus Magnus, map of Asia was derived from his own ''Asia-map'' from 1567, which in turn was inspired by that of Gastaldi (1559).{{clarify|date=May 2019}} Also for [[Africae Tabula Nova|the Africa map]] he referred to Gastaldi.

This work by Ortelius, consisted of a collection of the best maps, refined by himself, combined into one map or split across multiple, and on the same size (folios of approximately 35 x 50&nbsp;cm). The naming and location coordinates were not normalized.