bavarikon4ULafreri-Atlases of the Studienbibliothek Dillingen
The Studienbibliothek Dillingen owns two so-called "Lafreri Atlases", the term used for a compilation of maps produced by diverse engravers in Italy in the sixteenth century and bound in book-form. The name derives from Antonio Lafreri (1522-1577), an important printer, publisher and map dealer in Rome, who for the first time had maps of a uniform format bound together. The atlases were compiled individually, probably following the wishes of the respective client. Approximately 70 such atlases are known worldwide. Four of these are located in Bavaria (Bayerische Staatsbibliothek Munich, Studienbibliothek Dillingen (2), Benedictine Abbey Metten).
The Lafreri-Atlas X,122 contains 105 maps, all of them copper-plate engravings by the most famous engravers of sixteenth-century Italy. Eleven maps are attributed to Antonio Lafreri. The maps date from 1538 to 1566 and the usual structural classification (world maps, Europe, Africa, Asia and New World) is visible up to number 79.2, although Africa and Asia are only sparsely represented. The focus is on the Mediterranean. The volume bears the supralibros of the Augsburg bishop Clemens Wenzeslaus of Saxony (1768-1812) on the front cover, and the supralibros of the University of Dillingen on the back cover. It is uncertain whether the volume came to Dillingen in the course of the secularisation with the bishop's Court Library in Augsburg.
The Lafreri-Atlas X,123 contains 131 maps, almost exclusively copper-plate engravings. At the beginning of the volume, three portraits are displayed: a portrait of Pope Paul IV (1555-1559); a portrait of the French king Henry II (1547-1559) by the engraver Nicolas Beatrizet (dated to 1558) and a portrait of Sultan Suleiman I the Magnificent by Agostino Veneziano (Agostino dei Musi), dated to 1535. The most recent of the dated maps was made in 1573. Here as well, some famous Italian engravers had been at work; three maps are attributed to Lafreri himself. The volume bears the supralibros of Otto Truchsess von Waldburg (seneschal, d. 1573), the founder of Dillingen University, on the front cover. The coat of arms of the University of Dillingen is imprinted on the back cover.
>> This collection is part of the holdings of "Treasures in the Studienbibliothek Dillingen" of the Studienbibliothek Dillingen (Dillingen Research Library).