| Sebastian Münster | |
| Basle,
(1540) 1572 A cornerstone map of Africa: Africa/Libya/Morenland/mit allen Künigreichen so zů unsern zeiten darin gefunden werden. Original woodblock printed
map |
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A cornerstone map of Africa and a map that should be part of any collection of African maps. This is the earliest, readily available printed map to show the entire continent of Africa. Prior maps by Waldseemuller, Fries, and Gastaldi showed either the northern or southern portion of the continent. This map is famous for the medieval depiction of the Cyclops. The map also shows an elephant, and various African kingdoms including Hamarich, the capital of the famous Christian king, Prester John. Munster's map is based partly on Ptolemaic sources (the Nile begins in the two fictitious lakes), partly on Portuguese sources, and partly on Arabic sources. This map first appeared in Munster's Geographia in 1540. This map is from a German edition of Munster's Cosmographia of 1572. Verso of the map has: Verso: Des gan | tzen Lands A. | frice ein gemei | ne beschrei- | bung. within single woodcut border of knight on horseback at bottom with other figures and cherub at top center. At bottom 'xxv'. This is Variant 15 of the map. There is a later woodcut map of Africa that appeared in editions of the Cosmographia from 1588 to 1628. Sebastian Munster (1489-1552) was one of the three great cartographers who dominated the sixteenth century, along with Mercator and Ortelius, "and of these three, Munster probably had the widest influence in spreading geographical knowledge throughout Europe in the middle years of the century" (Moreland & Bannister, p.78). "[Munster's] Cosmographia... contained not only the latest maps and views of many well-known cities, but included an encyclopedic amount of detail about the known - and unknown - world and undoubtedly must have been one of the most widely read books of its time." Reference: Betz Map # 3, Variant 15. 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. Tooley, Map Collectors' Circle: Map Collectors' Series on African Maps, No. 29. Norwich Map #2. Moreland and Bannister. Fine condition overall.
Book stitch-hole at top and at bottom margins. |
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