Africa XVIII Nova Tabvla - Antique Map from 1540

C1540

Africa XVIII Nova Tabvla

Mapmaker:

$A 4,500

The very rare, true first state of the 1540, first edition of Sebastian Münster’s map of Africa XVIII Nova Tabula. Suberbly embellished with image; of a cyclops (Monoculi), an elephant and a large galleon. Munster printed this map of Africa … Read Full Description

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S/N: JLIP-006-MCOSMO-AF-1540046–526474

(CBD 02)

Categories: ANZAAB Melbourne Rare Book Fair List, MAPS & GLOBES, AFRICA, Africa Continent

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Details

Full Title:

Africa XVIII Nova Tabvla

Date:

C1540

Mapmaker:

Sebastian Munster (1488 - 1552)

Condition:

Minor spotting, otherwise in good condition. With centre fold as issued and wide margins.

Technique:

Woodcut.

Image Size:

344mm

x 272mm

Paper Size:

385mm

x 309mm

Genuine antique
dated:

1540

Description:

The very rare, true first state of the 1540, first edition of Sebastian Münster’s map of Africa XVIII Nova Tabula.

Suberbly embellished with image; of a cyclops (Monoculi), an elephant and a large galleon.

Munster printed this map of Africa from the same woodblock for a number of editions without changes to the actual map. The only possible method of confirming this first state, first 1540 edition is from minor changes to the setting of text:

1. From the text on the recto, in the panel at lower left of the map. The last two lines of text; The second last line begins with a t and the last line with a b. (in the 1542 edition these two letters appear misalinged).
2. On the verso the second line (ie the one below the heading) ends with regno/ ( In the 1542 edition line ends with regno the slash (/) is removed.
3. Page number 46

From: Münster, Sebastian; Ptolemaeus, Claudius: Geographia universalis vetus et nova complectens Claudii Ptolemaei Alexandrini enarrationis libros VIII : Quorum primus nova translatione Pirckheimeri et accessione commentarioli illustrior quam hactenus fuerit, redditus est … Addita sunt Scholia quibus exoleta […]. Basileae : apud Henricum Petrum, Mense Martio An. M.D.XL. [1540]

References:
Karrow, R. Mapmakers of the Sixteenth Century and their Maps. Bio-Bibliographies of the Cartographers of Abraham Ortelius, 1570. Chicago 1993 :: 58/118.

Collections:
David Rumsey Collection: 11623.102 (1540 first state, first edition)

Sebastian Munster (1488 - 1552)

Sebastian Munster (1488-1552) was an important German cartographer, cosmographer and Hebrew scholar who is best known for his 1540 Latin translation and publication of Ptolemy's Geography titled, Cosmographia. Prior to the introduction of printing for books, of works such as Ptolemy's groundbreaking Geography, they could only be copied individually by scribes, consequently this slow process inhibited the dissemination of geographic knowledge to a wide audience. As information became available especially of the new world, Munster found that Ptolemy's theories were contradicted by these new discoveries that were related to him by ships captains and explorers. One such theory was a land locked Indian Ocean which Ptolemy had shown in his Geography and which was being disproved by the trading ships returning from China and the Spice Islands with their precious cargos. As a result Munster began to add new maps to his own Cosmographia that reflected these new discoveries and made available to a wider audience this changing knowledge of the world.

View other items by Sebastian Munster