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Braun/Hogenberg, Cities of the World - Complete Edition of the Colour Plates 1572-1617 (Civitates Orbis Terrarum) (French and German Edition) | 
 enlarge | Authors: Stephan Fussel, Rem Koolhaas
Publisher: TASCHEN America Llc
Category: Book
List Price: $200.00
Buy New: $126.00
You Save: $74.00 (37%)
New (6) from $126.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  1 reviews
Sales Rank: 86109
Format: Illustrated
Media: Hardcover
Edition: Mul
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 600
Shipping Weight (lbs): 15
Dimensions (in): 19.3 x 13 x 3
ISBN: 3822852724
Dewey Decimal Number: 709
EAN: 9783822852729
ASIN: 3822852724
Publication Date: December 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Product Description
Google Earth's ancestor: a snapshot of urban life, circa 1600
History's most opulent collection of town maps and illustrations
The complete reprint of all 363 color plates from Braun and Hogenberg's survey of town maps, city views, and plans of Europe, Africa, Asia and Central America, with dozens of unusual details, two folding maps, as well as selected extracts from the original text and an in-depth commentary. First published in Cologne 1572-1617.
More than four centuries after the first volume was originally published in Cologne, Braun and Hogenberg's magnificent collection of town map engravings, Civitates orbis terrarum, has been brought back to life with this reprint taken from a rare and superbly preserved original set of six volumes, belonging to the Historische Museum in Frankfurt. Produced between 1572 and 1617 - just before the extensive devastation wreaked by the Thirty Years' War - the work contains 564 plans, bird's-eye views, and map views of all major cities in Europe, plus important cities in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Edited and annotated by theologian and publisher Georg Braun, and largely engraved by cartographer Franz Hogenberg, the Civitates was intended as a companion volume for Abraham Ortelius's 1570 world atlas, Theatrum orbis terrarum. Over a hundred different artists and cartographers contributed to the sumptuous artwork, which not only shows the towns but also features additional elements, such as figures in local dress, ships, ox-drawn carts, courtroom scenes, and topographical details, that help convey the situation, commercial power, and political importance of the towns they accompany.
The Civitates gives us a comprehensive view of urban life at the turn of the 17th century. TASCHEN's reprint includes all of the city plates, accompanied by selected extracts from Braun's texts on the history and contemporary significance of each urban center as well as translations of the Latin cartouches. A detailed commentary places each city map in its cartographical and cultural context, and examines earlier sources and later editions. Rounding off this comprehensive publication is a separate introductory essay examining the Civitates in its cultural and historical context. From Paris and London to Cairo and Jerusalem, readers will find many a familiar city to zoom back in time to and explore - in fact, many of the maps can still be used for orientation in historical town centers today.
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| Customer Reviews:
Porn for Map Collectors December 28, 2008
Originally produced as six volumes between 1572 and 1617, Cities of the World was monumental task at that time. Not only did it contain maps and bird's eye drawings of every major European city, but also included towns and cities from Africa, Asia and Central America. But beyond just a catalog of maps, there was extensive commentary about the cities and their importance at the time. More than a hundred artists contributed to the project, including drawings of local culture, dress or activities to help the viewer at that time see life elsewhere in that time.
The book is physically imposing; one of Taschen's XL projects that opens to being more than a foot and a half tall and two feet wide when opened, with 600 pages and more than 500 city plans and maps (two of which fold out to over four feet across). The art was reproduced from an almost perfect surviving set, and the drawings and engravings leap off the pages. Not all of the original text was translated, but the parts that were give the modern reader an almost unique tour of the 16th Century world. As is common with many Taschen books, the text is printed in English, French and German allowing international sales, without having to do separate printings for different markets.
One of the interesting things to do with Cities of the World is to compare those maps from 400 years ago, with modern maps from those same cities. While many things have changed, you can still see the that many cities still have the same flow to their streets. One might think that the market for books like this would be highly limited. Until you actually see it for yourself. As you pour through it, looking at the details in the maps and drawings, your mind begins to rearrange your bookshelves, figuring out the best way to display it. The assumption is not, "can I afford to get this", but "what do I need to cut back on to afford this?"
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