This French-language work is a reprint of Mercator's Atlas, dating from 1633. The celebrated world atlas of Gerardus Mercator was first issued in 1595. The atlas contained a treatise on the creation of the world and 107 maps with geographical descriptions, of which 102 were compiled by Mercator himself. In 1602 the heirs of Mercator brought out a second edition of the atlas. In 1604 they sold all the copper plates from which the atlas was printed, to the Amsterdam publisher Jodocus Hondius the Elder, together with the rights to issue the atlas. Hondius continued to publish Mercator's work, constantly adding new maps and information. After Hondius' death in 1612, the atlas was continued by his sons. In 1638 publication was transferred to Jan Janssonius, who removed Mercator and Hondius' names from the title page of the Atlas and separate maps.