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For Sale: A Marvelous Menagerie – 3/20/19

Abraham Orelius was an Antwerp-born mapmaker who was among the first to chart Iceland’s geography in considerable detail. Named Islandia, this artful rendering of this northern island nation is chock-full of mythical beasts, like the Nahval, the Steipereidur, the Skautuhvalur, the Staukul and the Hroshualur. “Most of the sea monsters reflect an effort on the part of the cartographer to be accurate int he depiction of what lived in the sea.”

A 1603 edition of Islandia is up for sale at Swann Auction Galleries, where dealers expect it to fetch between $3,500 and $5,500.[Source: AtlasObscura]