File:Europae - Europe.jpg

English: This is the first edition ever printed with Italian text. The heirs of Abraham Ortelius sold a manuscript translation by Filippo Pigafetta to Vrients, which was then printed by him. In this translation, the Parergon and the Nomenclator were included. Apart from this, Vrients also added at the end, an Introduction to Cosmography, written by Michel Coignet. Several new maps appear here for the first time. Vrients added 8 new maps, making this combined Theatrum and Parergon edition the largest with 166 maps. 128 maps in the "Theatrum", with the "Parergon" having 38 maps, a portrait of Pope Clement VIII., dedications to Pope Clement VIII. and to Cardinal Aldobrandino, 1605. The Theatrum and Parergon plates are uncolored. The Parergon is Ortelius' atlas of ancient geography. This atlas of ancient geography must be regarded as a personal work of Ortelius. For this work he did not, as in the Theatrum, copy other people's maps but drew the originals himself which were later engraved by Jan Wierix i.a. He took many places and regions from the lands of classical civilization to illustrate and clarify their history, a subject very close to his heart... The maps and plates of the Parergon have to be evaluated as the most outstanding engravings depicting the wide-spread interest in classical geography in the 16th century.