Atlas sheet from an edition of Theatrum Orbis Terrarum with Latin text, published in 1573. Hand coloured copperplate engraving. It depicts the world on an oval projection, surrounded by sky. It is a simplified version of Mercator's world map of 1569. Notable features are the vast southern continent, Terra Australis Nondum Cognita (southern land not yet known) and the straightforward-looking Northwest and Northeast Passages through the Arctic. A note next to New Guinea queries whether it is part of the Southern Continent. The motto below the map is a quotation from Cicero (Tusculanae Disputatianes IV. 1 7. 37) Quid ei potest videri magnum in rebus humanis, cui aeternitas omnis, totiusque mundi nota sit magnitudo (For what human affairs can seem important to a man who keeps all eternity before his eyes and knows the vastness of the universe?). The title and motto are placed in strapwork panels. The sea areas are decorated with a ship, a whale, a flying fish and another sea creature.