Jodocus Hondius (1563-1612)

Jodocus Hondius lies almost entirely in the shadow of his illustrious predecessor Gerard Mercator. In 2012 extensive attention was given to the fact that Gerard Mercator was born 500 years earlier, but the death in 1612 of Jodocus Hondius was hardly remembered in a quadricentennial. A stamp of the Belgian Post (depicting Hondius with Mercator) and a lecture at the annual conference of the BIMCC in Brussels seem to have been the only Hondius activities in 2012. This year, 2013, it is 450 years since Hondius' birth: reason enough to devote a short contribution to the mapmaker who, along with the publisher Cornelis Claesz., is responsible for the beginning of atlas production in Amsterdam.