An Early Woodcut map of Africa:  AFRICA TERTIA PARS TERRÆ .

Original woodblock printed map
Uncolored as issued
260 x 340 mm (not including the title above the map)
Map # AAF-182   
$ 1,500

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Heinrich Bünting appears to generally follow Sebastian Münster’s 1540 map of Africa for his basic depiction of Africa, especially with its west to east slope of Africa.  The shape of the continent is unusual in that it tapers to a point at the Cape of Good Hope.  Bünting identifies the Moslems in northwest Africa as Der weissen Morenland (the White Moors) and the Moslems in Central Africa, just above Priester Johans Land (the Land of Prester John), as Der Schwartzen Morenland (the Black Moors). Likely relying on Münster’s 1540 map, Bünting places the island of Zaphala, among other islands, off the east coast of Africa, in a probable reference to the region from which King Solomon supposedly imported gold and silver to Jerusalem.  Most interestingly, Bünting introduces a third, even larger lake, Nidilis lacus, in Central Africa as a new source for the Nile.

Heinrich Bünting (1545-1606) was a Protestant Professor of Theology at Hanover.  He is most known for his Itinerarum Sacrae Scripturae, a religious commentary on the world, which contained this map. The book describes the travels of the religious figures of the Old and New Testaments of the Bible as well as its geography. It was a popular book and was the most complete summary of the geography of the Bible of this period.  This map is the third variant.

Reference:  Betz # 24.3.   Betz, Richard L., with Penelope W. Betz. The Mapping of Africa: A Cartobibliography of Printed Maps of the African Continent to 1700. 't Goy-Houten, The Netherlands: HES & De Graaf Publishers, 2007.

Very Good Condition.  The Bünting maps seems to almost always have condition issues, often attributed to the poor quality of the paper used in the printing process.  This map does not have paper separations, though there is a bit of reintegrated paper used at the top right margin.   This map was used for the image on page 150 of our book.