Acquired From: Gowrie Galleries
Colouring: Coloured
Condition: Good
Confirmed: Yes
Date Acquired: 23/12/2000
Dealers ID No.: M75 (STK 937.01)
Description: This distinctive woodcut map, titled Die eigentliche und warhafftige gestalt der Erden und des Meers (The True and Faithful Form of the Earth and the Sea), appears in Heinrich Büntings widely read Itinerarium Sacrae Scripturae (Itinerary of the Holy Scriptures). First published in 1581, the Itinerarium was conceived as a geographic and devotional guide to the biblical world, charting the physical landscapes of both Old and New Testament narratives. This German edition, printed in Magdeburg between 1608 and 1616, reflects the enduring popularity of the work, which saw over sixty editions issued by the mid-eighteenth century in multiple languages, including Latin, Dutch, English, and Czech.nBünting, a Protestant theologian from Hanover and graduate of the University of Wittenberg, was a preacher whose controversial views led to dismissal from various posts. Yet his Itinerarium became a devotional bestseller, combining scriptural exegesis with imaginative cartography.nThis map is one of the most iconic from the Itinerarium, offering a stylised and highly interpretive vision of the world as known to sixteenth-century Europeans. It depicts the continents of Europe, Asia, and Africa with a portion of the Americas visible to the west. The map follows aspects of classical geographyparticularly the Ptolemaic modelbut with distinctive embellishments by Bünting.nAfrica is rendered with notable detail. The Nile River, labelled according to ancient convention, originates in the Montes Lunae (Mountains of the Moon) and flows northward from a large, enclosed lakean element of Büntings own invention. Northern Africa is labelled Der wiessen Moren (Land of the White Moors), while Sub-Saharan Africa is named Der Schwartzen Morenland (Land of the Black Moors). Central to the Nile is Meroe, the legendary burial place of Nubian kings, and just beyond lies the fabled Christian kingdom of Prester Johna persistent medieval myth of a righteous monarch resisting Muslim encirclement.nAdditional geographical features include a canal linking the Mediterranean and Black Seas, and Taprobana (modern-day Sri Lanka) marked south of Indiathough curiously, no landmass is drawn. Instead, a large southern extension named India Meridionalis (Southern India) occupies the Indian Ocean. Four sea monsters are shown in the surrounding watersthree in the Indian Ocean and one in the Atlanticcontributing to the maps mythical and symbolic character.nMore emblematic than navigational, Büntings map blends religious geography, medieval lore, and humanist curiosity. It stands as a vivid example of the ways in which biblical interpretation and cosmographic imagination merged in early modern cartography.
First published: Itinerarium sacrae scripturae, Magdeburg, 1581
Image Size (cm): 36×27
Mapmaker: Bünting, Heinrich (1545-1606)
Other states: First 1581
Price: A5,000 plus gst
Primary Category: World
Purchase Reference: Inv. 43 (Hand written) Inv GST 3/43 Green paper
Rarity: R3 Uncommon – dealers can usually obtain a copy
References: Henk Van der Heijden (1998), Heinrich Büntings Itinerarium Sacrae Scripturae, 1581: A Chapter in the Geography of the Bible, Quaerendo 28, no. 1 (1998): 4971. nDewez (2002), The Printed World IV, 4, map 4 .
Shirley ID #: 143 Mapping the World
Technique: Woodcut
This state: 1608-1616German
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