This world map is from the first edition

Acquired From: Gowrie Galleries

Colouring: Uncoloured

Condition: Good

Confirmed: 28/09/2024

Date Acquired: 1/4/2004

Dealers ID No.: M425 (STK 1217.01)

Description: This world map is from the first edition of Liber chronicarum (Book of Chronicles), first published in June 1493 by Anton Koberger in Nuremberg. The book is an illustrated history of the Christian world, covering the period from Creation up to the time of its publication. It was financed by two Nuremberg merchants, Sebald Schreyer and Sebastian KammermeisterA who commissioned Hartmann Schedel to compile the text. A German edition, titled Das Buch der Croniken und Geschicten, was published six months later and also included a world map. The Latin and German editions can be distinguished by the lettering outside the map and its placement on the page. In the Latin edition, the map appears above the accompanying text, whereas in the German edition, it is positioned below, as shown on this map. nSchedels map was probably derived from the frontispiece of Pomponius Melas Cosmographia, published in Venice eleven years earlier. Like Melas map, it was based on Claudius Ptolemys second century view of the world. This is evident in the depiction of a landlocked Indian Ocean, despite Bartolomeu Dias having rounded the southern tip of Africa five years before the map's publication. nThe map is surrounded by twelve wind heads, each identified by name. Latin text in the lower-left corner describes the characteristics of these winds: n Seprentrio: Blows from the Pole, bringing cold and clouds;no At its right: Circius, associated with snow and hail.no At its left: Boreas, which freezes.n Subsolanus: Tempered by its origin;no Vulturnus: A dry wind.no Eurus: Produces clouds.n Auster: Moist and associated with lightning;no At its right: Euro, hot.no At its left: Euronotus, stormy.n Zephyrus: Ends winter and heralds blossoms;no At its side: Africus, generates thunderstorms and dense clouds.nOutside the maps frame, three figures represent Noahs sonsShem, Ham, and Japhethwho, according to Genesis 10, repopulated the world after the Flood. The text at the bottom explains that the Earth is spherical and divided into three landmasses, each assigned to one of Noah's sons: Shem was given Asia, Japheth was assigned Europe, and Ham received Africa.nA vertical strip on the left of the map features seven unlabelled illustrations of mythical and monstrous creatures, printed from a separate block. These include:n1. A kneeling six-armed man.n2. A seated woman covered in hair.n3. A man crouching, with six fingers on each hand.n4. A hippocentaur (half-man, half-horse).n5. A bald woman with an unusually long beard.n6. A man with four eyes.n7. A man with a crane-like neck and a beak-like mouth.nThese fantastical beings were believed to inhabit the distant corners of the world.

First published: Schedel, Hartmann Registrum huius operis libri cronicarum cum figuris et ymagibus ab inicio mundi Nuremberg: Anton Kroberger, 1493

Mapmaker: Schedel, Hartmann (1440-1514)

Other states: A second state was published in German on 23 December 1493 and the text is above the map.

Price: A30,000 plus gst

Primary Category: World

Purchase Reference: Inv. 2117

Rarity: R2 Very rare – one or two copies appear on the market

References: Wilson, Nuremberg Chronicle

Shirley ID #: 10 Mapping the World

Technique: Woodcut

This state: 1493