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Auction archive: Lot number 7

ORTELIUS, Abraham (1527-1598). Autograph letter signed ('Abrah. Ortelius') to his nephew Jacob Cole, Antwerp, 4 January 1595.

Estimate
£7,000 - £10,000
ca. US$9,200 - US$13,143
Price realised:
£23,750
ca. US$31,216
Auction archive: Lot number 7

ORTELIUS, Abraham (1527-1598). Autograph letter signed ('Abrah. Ortelius') to his nephew Jacob Cole, Antwerp, 4 January 1595.

Estimate
£7,000 - £10,000
ca. US$9,200 - US$13,143
Price realised:
£23,750
ca. US$31,216
Beschreibung:

ORTELIUS, Abraham (1527-1598). Autograph letter signed ('Abrah. Ortelius') to his nephew Jacob Cole, Antwerp, 4 January 1595. In Latin. One page, 313 x 213mmm, integral address panel on verso directed to Cole in London (tipped onto a guard, small loss to left margin, 30 x 12mm, probably from seal tear; two areas of old restoration to verso at right margin and in address panel). Provenance : presented by Cole to the Dutch Church in London; Sotheby's sale of 'The highly important correspondence of Abraham Ortelius', 14 Feburary 1955, lot 30; Sotheby's, 18 June 1968 (which again featured the whole correspondence), lot 339. An exchange of atlases with William Camden, and expressing his preference for the uncoloured state of the Theatrum . Ortelius sympathises with his nephew on the recent death of his first wife: 'I grieve with you, because you are grieving; for it is not otherwise a cause of pain for me. For what can be outside the rule of nature? ... Truly, either you had to cause this pain to your beloved, or she to her beloved'. He also discusses a number of books exchanged between him and his nephew: 'You also write about a copy of Camden's Britannia sent by you, about which I have heard nothing until now: I must see where it has been held up. I beg you to give the author my most courteous greetings. In a month or two he will receive from me a copy of the fifth addition to my Theatrum , and you the Theatrum itself, revised and augmented with 17 maps ... But you prefer it illustrated with colours. I, speaking frankly, prefer it without them. For not only does the colouring not render it better, it makes it worse ... You however will choose whether you prefer it plain or coloured'. Published in J.H. Hessels, Ecclesiae Londino-Batavae Archivum (Cambridge University Press, 1887).

Auction archive: Lot number 7
Beschreibung:

ORTELIUS, Abraham (1527-1598). Autograph letter signed ('Abrah. Ortelius') to his nephew Jacob Cole, Antwerp, 4 January 1595. In Latin. One page, 313 x 213mmm, integral address panel on verso directed to Cole in London (tipped onto a guard, small loss to left margin, 30 x 12mm, probably from seal tear; two areas of old restoration to verso at right margin and in address panel). Provenance : presented by Cole to the Dutch Church in London; Sotheby's sale of 'The highly important correspondence of Abraham Ortelius', 14 Feburary 1955, lot 30; Sotheby's, 18 June 1968 (which again featured the whole correspondence), lot 339. An exchange of atlases with William Camden, and expressing his preference for the uncoloured state of the Theatrum . Ortelius sympathises with his nephew on the recent death of his first wife: 'I grieve with you, because you are grieving; for it is not otherwise a cause of pain for me. For what can be outside the rule of nature? ... Truly, either you had to cause this pain to your beloved, or she to her beloved'. He also discusses a number of books exchanged between him and his nephew: 'You also write about a copy of Camden's Britannia sent by you, about which I have heard nothing until now: I must see where it has been held up. I beg you to give the author my most courteous greetings. In a month or two he will receive from me a copy of the fifth addition to my Theatrum , and you the Theatrum itself, revised and augmented with 17 maps ... But you prefer it illustrated with colours. I, speaking frankly, prefer it without them. For not only does the colouring not render it better, it makes it worse ... You however will choose whether you prefer it plain or coloured'. Published in J.H. Hessels, Ecclesiae Londino-Batavae Archivum (Cambridge University Press, 1887).

Auction archive: Lot number 7
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