Lafreri, Antonio (c.1512-1577)

French-born Italian engraver and publisher. Lafreri is best known for devising ‘Lafreri atlases’ - atlases in which sheet maps by various cartographers are bound into a single (unique) volume according to each customer's requirements.

Born in Orgelet in France, Lafreri settled in Rome as an engraver in 1544, but by 1553 had moved into publishing. A particularly sumptuous production was his Speculum Romanae magnificentiae/The Mirror of Roman Magnificence (1575), but he was also known for his output of prints by Marcantonio Raimondi. Lafreri's own imprint occurs on a number of atlases issued between 1556 and 1572, the later ones under the title of Tavole moderne di geografia.