Cornelis DE JODE

1568 - 1600

Cornelis de Jode was born in Antwerp in 1568 and died on October 17, 1600, in Mons (Bergen) while traveling back from Spain. He was born into a prominent family of Flemish cartographers, engravers, and publishers, working alongside his mother and his father, Gerard de Jode, who founded the family’s publishing business in Antwerp. Academically trained, Cornelis studied science at the Academy of Douai before entering the family profession to continue his father’s cartographical legacy.

Following his father’s death in 1591, De Jode took charge of the family business and assumed responsibility for completing an expanded, revised edition of his father’s 1578 regional atlas. In 1593, he published this definitive work under the title Speculum Orbis Terrae, expanding the collection from 65 to 109 maps. This publication is highly notable for incorporating progressive geographical interpretations, including a distinct twin-polar-view world map based on the work of Guillaume Postel, the first map dedicated entirely to the western coast of North America (Quivirae Regnum), and an early printed depiction tracking the northern coast of the Australian continent (Novae Guineae Forma & Situs). Beyond sheet maps, De Jode applied his scientific training to instrument making, successfully constructing a rare terrestrial globe in 1594. Despite the high artistic quality and clarity of his engravings, his publications faced intense competition from the contemporary monopoly of Abraham Ortelius, which severely restricted their commercial success. Following De Jode’s premature death in 1600, his printing plates were acquired by publisher Joan Baptista Vrients, who also owned the Ortelius plates, suppressing De Jode’s works in favour of those of Ortelius. As a result, surviving copies of De Jode’s maps are exceptionally rare.

Cornelis de Jode is remembered as a scientifically accomplished Flemish publisher and mapmaker who advanced global geographic representation by finalising the rare Speculum Orbis Terrae atlas and constructing one of the era’s few surviving terrestrial globes.