Again, the style of the writings and the nature of the epigrammatic form may have a lot to do with this. It may, however, be worth noting the strong presence of Stoic sources, more common than Aristotelian or Platonic ones. Third, fourth, and fifth most quoted authors are no less surprising: Cicero, Augustine, and Seneca. Ovid is the most frequently cited author, no doubt due to the style of his writing as much as to the wellspring of mythological reference found in his works. 3 It is not surprising that most of the quotations come from classical sources. These have been analyzed into various statistical forms by Wolfgang Klose. Most of the entries are brief salutations with short epigrams or quotations. Entries were sometimes written in the margins of these books, sometimes on interleaved pages, and sometimes on liminary pages at the front or back. 2 These students used books (often the Emblem Book of Alciati, or a Bible, or a work by Melanchthon) as albums in which they collected autographs and insignia from professors in Wittenberg and the neighboring protestant universities that they visited in the course of their study. The first friendship albums ( alba amicorum) were kept during the mid-1540s by students at Wittenberg.
What was the purpose of collecting such an album? What does it tell us about the humanist culture of the time? And why did a diverse group of academics, artisans, and merchant scholars decide to celebrate friendship? 1 The contributors cross generational, geographical, and religious boundaries. By the time he had died the album contained more than 130 names, making it one of the most distinguished signature collections of the time, including such illustrious figures as Jean Bodin, Justus Lipsius, William Camden, and Gerard Mercator. Eventually an index was added by Ortelius's nephew, but as Ortelius reached the end of his life further entries were added. As the album grew in scope and prestige over the following twenty-four years, inscriptions were included on behalf of deceased friends. Others sent their contributions directly to him in Antwerp. Given the lack of geographical mobility during the Dutch revolt, Ortelius's friends occasionally circulated this album amongst themselves. They entered their contributions in an album, called an "album amicorum" (book of friends). Text in Latin.In 1574 Abraham Ortelius, the renowned Flemish cartographer and antiquarian, began to collect signatures, inscriptions, and pictures from his international network of friends. Van der Krogt lists 37 editions, with the last edition published in 1641, long after Ortelius' death in 1598. Ortelius stated that nearly all the plates were cut by Frans Hogenberg and his assistants."" The Theatrum went through many editions in Latin, German, French, Dutch, Spanish, English, and Italian. Abraham Ortelius drew all his maps in manuscript before passing them to the engravers. But Ortelius did more that the atlas-makers of today: he mentioned the names of the authors of the original maps and added a great many names of other cartographers and geographers to it.
In selecting maps for his compilation, Ortelius was guided by his critical spirit and his encyclopaedic knowledge of maps. To that end, maps of various formats and styles had to be generalized just like the modern atlas-publisher of today would do. Another important aspect of the Theatrum is that it was the first undertaking of its kind to reduce the best available maps to a uniform format. Before Ortelius, no one and done this and thus, the chorus of praise which arose as a result of this - and the excellent text - was far from slight. This concept for a ""Theatre of the world"" was followed through the 17th century. The characteristic feature of the Theatrum is, that it consists of two elements, forming a unitary whole: text and maps. Shape and contents set the standards for later atlases, when the centre of the map-trade moved from Antwerp to Amsterdam. From Koeman: ""The unique position held by Ortelius' Theatrum in the history of cartography is to be attributed primarily to its qualification as 'the world's first regularly produced atlas.' Its great commercial success 'enabled it to make so great a contribution to geographical culture throughout Europe in the later 16th century.' (Skelton). "First edition of the first atlas of the world.
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