Gerardus Mercator

Atlas sive Cosmographicae Meditationes, 1595, and the later Mercator-Hondius editions The book that gave every map collection its name. Mercator spent the last sixteen years of his life on it, and the final part was published the year after his death; his family completed the set, with some maps by his son Rumold and two grandsons. Many "Mercator" maps a collector meets come from the later editions issued by Jodocus Hondius and his heirs, who expanded the atlas and kept it in print for decades. Those are genuine period maps, but they are not the original Duisburg printing, and the two should not be confused, so check the text on the back and the imprint before buying.