Georg Braun (1541-1622) and Frans Hogenberg (1535-1590) were co-
publishers of the monumental Civitates Orbis Terrarum, “the
earliest systematic city atlas” (Koeman), published from 1572
onwards. Designed as a companion to Ortelius’ world atlas the
Theatrum, this enormous work, which was expanded to six volumes
by 1617 incorporating over 500 plans and views, must be viewed
as one of the most ambitious book producing ventures of all
time, and certainly, with Ortelius’ Theatrum and Blaeu’s Atlas
Maior among the greatest achievements in the history of
cartography. Braun compiled the accompanying text, printed on
the reverse of the engraved sheets, while the plans were
engraved by Hogenberg, who had also prepared some of the maps
for Ortelius’ Theatrum. Hogenberg used generally up-to-date and
accurate maps, surveys and reports from local sources to compile
this collection of plans and bird’s-eye views of all the major
towns of Europe, some African, Middle Eastern and Indian towns,
and the New World cities of Mexic