Typus orbis universalis

Acquired From: Leen Helmink

Colouring: Uncoloured

Condition: Very Good

Confirmed: No

Date Acquired: 31/3/2014

Description: Sebastian Münster was a German mapmaker, cosmographer and professor of Hebrew at the University of Basel. One of his notable works was a Latin edition of Claudius Ptolemys Geography, first published in Basel in 1540. This edition included twenty-seven Ptolemaic maps and twenty-one modern maps, including this world map Typus orbis universalis. Münsters Geography was subsequently reprinted in Latin in 1542, 1545, and 1552. nOf cartographic significance is Münster's adoption of Benedetto Bordones oval projection (View Record (#7)), a design later used by mapmakers like Abraham Ortelius in his 1570 world map (View Record (#81))nAfricas outline s rendered with remarkable accuracy for the time, while its interior depicts the Niles source as two unnamed lakes, fed by streams from an unidentified mountain range (the legendary Mountains of the Moon). Asia extends eastward and intriguingly reappears north of Terra Florida (North America).nEurope connects to a large landmass labeled Terra nova sive de Bacalhos (New Land of the Codfish) at its western end. Münster identifies a passage between this landmass and Francisca, accompanied by the inscription, "The route to the Moluccas passes through this strait." To the south, a V-shaped body of water separates Terra Florida and Francisca, reflecting Münsters interpretation of Giovanni da Verrazzanos 1524 voyage along North Americas east coast, during which Verrazzano mistakenly identified Pamlico Sound as the Pacific Ocean. Further south appears America seu insula Brasilii (America or the Island of Brazil), with the Rio de la Plata depicted and, beyond the Strait of Magellan, a small unnamed landmasstestament to Münsters awareness of Ferdinand Magellans 15191522 circumnavigation. nThe map portrays a world that is fully circumnavigable, presenting the Strait of Magellan, an oversized Pacific Ocean, and an unobstructed Indian Ocean. Decorative elements include clouds and wind heads framing the map, with the east and west wind heads placed within the map itself. Two sea monsters frolic in the Oceanus Australis (Southern Ocean). Each ocean is labeled using blocks of metal type, marking the first printed appearance of the name Mare Pacificum (Pacific Ocean).nThis map also featured in the first four editions of his encyclopedic work, Cosmographia (1544, 1545, 1546 and 1548). The 1540 edition can be distinguished by a single decorative printers device to the left of the title.

First published: Geographia universalis, vetus et nova complectens Claudii Ptolemaei Alexandrini enarrationis libros VIII, Basel: Heinrich Petri, 1540

Mapmaker: Münster, Sebastian (1488-1552)

Notes: See also email 27/01/2018???

Price: 6,300

Primary Category: World

Purchase Reference: Ledger Inv. 2014-012

Rarity: R1 Extremely rare – occasionally seen on the market

References: Simon Dewez, The Printed World III (Sydney: Gowrie Galleries, 2000), 14-15, map 19nRobert W. Karrow, Sebastian Münster, in Mapmakers of the Sixteenth Century and Their Maps: Bio-Bibliographies of the Cartographers of Abraham Ortelius, 1570 (Chicago, IL: Speculum Orbis Press, 1993), 425, 58/119. nHarold Ruland, A Survey of the Double-Page Maps in Thirty-Five Editions of the Comographia Universals 1544-1628 of Sebastian Münster and in His Editions of Ptolemys Geographia 1540-1552, Imago Mundi 16 (1962): 8497.

Shirley ID #: 77 Mapping the World

Technique: Woodcut

This state: 1540