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C1588
Die erst General Tafel/die Beschreibung und den Circkel des gantzen Erdtrichs und Meers innhaltende.
Mapmaker:
First issue of this famous c.16th woodcut map of the world by the German cartographer Sebastian Münster. Munster included this new modern map of the world in an ovaloid projection for the 1588 edition of his Cosmographia. The map is … Read Full Description
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Full Title:
Die erst General Tafel/die Beschreibung und den Circkel des gantzen Erdtrichs und Meers innhaltende.
Date:
C1588
Mapmaker:
Condition:
Minor loss to lower left corner of sheet edge, otherwise in good condition, with centre fold as issued.
Technique:
Hand coloured woodcut.
Image Size:
360mm
x 310mm
Paper Size:
373mm
x 330mm
AUTHENTICITY
Genuine antique
dated:
1588
Description:
First issue of this famous c.16th woodcut map of the world by the German cartographer Sebastian Münster.
Munster included this new modern map of the world in an ovaloid projection for the 1588 edition of his Cosmographia.
The map is embellished with ornate acanthus leaves design in each corner and with panels at top and bottom with scroll work.
Moving away from the classically accepted Ptolemaic model of the world, Munster’s new world map omits, Terra Australis Incognita, usually found on world maps of the period and replaces it with Terra Australis Non Dum Cognita, (The Southern Land Not Yet Known). On the lower right a protruding landmass in the position of northwest western Australia has the names; Beach, Lucaoh and Maletur, names given by Marco Polo in his scribed account of his travels, Il Millone. New Guinea is crudely depicted on the left of the map.
North America is shown with a huge inland sea which became known as the Verrazano Sea, derived from the accounts of Giovanni da Verrazano (1485-1528) who mistook the Pamlico and Albemarle Sounds as the Pacific Ocean. The ship depicted on the right is Magellan’s ship Victoria honouring his circumnavigation of the world 1519-1522.
German text on the verso.
From Münster’s Cosmographen das ist Beschreibung Aller Länder, Herschaffen und fürnemesten Stetten des gantzen Erdbodems … Basle
References:
Shirley, R. Printed Maps of the British Isles 1650-1750. Tring 1988: : T.MUN-1-l / 1..
Shirley, R. The Mapping of the World Early Printed World Maps 1472-1700. London 1987: : 163.
Collections:
National Library Australia: Bib ID 172432
Shirley, R. Printed Maps of the British Isles 1650-1750. Tring 1988: : T.MUN-1-l / 1..
Shirley, R. The Mapping of the World Early Printed World Maps 1472-1700. London 1987: : 163.
Collections:
National Library Australia: Bib ID 172432
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.
