Gerard de Jode

Gerard de Jode (1509 - 1591) was a cartographer, engraver and publisher who lived and worked in Antwerp during the 16th century. He was born in Nijmegen and died in Antwerp. In 1547 he was admitted to the Guild of St. Luke, and began his work as a publisher/printseller. He often printed the works of other cartographers including Gastaldi's map of the world in 1555, Jacob van Deventer's map of Brabant in 1558, Ortelius' eight sheet map of the world in 1564, and maps by Bartholomeus Musinus, Fernando Alvares Seco. His major work Speculum Orbis Terrarum was not published until 1578, 8 years after the publication of Ortelius' Theatrum and was not as well received. Today it is very rare, while an enlarged re-issue published by his son Cornelius is more common. Upon the death of Cornelius, the plates were sold to J. B. Vrients (who also owned the Ortelius plates), and the complete work was not published again.

Speculum Orbis Terrarum was once the object of an attempted theft from the Yale University Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, by rare map thief E. Forbes Smiley III. Smiley was caught and arrested after a library staff member found his X-Acto knife on the floor.