Typus orbis universalis

Acquired From: Gowrie Galleries

Colouring: Coloured

Condition: Very Good

Confirmed: 28/09/2024

Date Acquired: 6/3/2006

Dealers ID No.: M239/1 (STK 1549.01)

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 (View Record (#91)), which also appeared in subsequent editions of Geographia, in 1542 and 1545.nFour years after the release of his Geography, Münster published Cosmographia: Beschreibung aller Länder (commonly known as Cosmographia universalis), a more expansive and comprehensive work incorporating broader geographical, historical, and cultural content. Initially published in German in 1544, it was later translated into several languages, including Latin, French, Italian, and Czech, with editions produced between 1544 and 1578. nThe modern world map also featured in the first four editions of Münster's Cosmography (1544, 1545, 1546 and 1548) before the original printing block was retired. A new block was carved for the 1550 of Cosmography, and it was used for all subsequent editions up to and including 1578, as well as the final edition of the Geography in 1552. This world map is from the 1550 edition of Cosmographia unversalis.nWhile geographically like its predecessor, this map features the initials "DK" of woodcutter David Kandel in the lower left corner. The titles of the wind-heads are now enclosed in banners, and the east and west winds are relocated outside the oval surround.nThe depiction of North America, labelled Terra Florida, retains its distinctive, almost water-divided shape, although the inscription regarding a route to the Moluccas has been removed. Other changes include the omission of the toponyms Terra nova sive de Bacalhos (New land of the Codfish) and Francisca (today's Canada). The oceans are populated by eight sea monsters, and a sailing ship is depicted crossing the Pacific, firing its cannons.

Engraver: Kandel, David

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

Image Size (cm): 37.5×26

Mapmaker: Münster, Sebastian (1488-1552)

Other states: First 1540

Price: A5,800 plus gst

Primary Category: World

Purchase Reference: Inv. 2988

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

References: Matthew McLean, The Cosmographia of Sebastian Münster: Describing the World in the Reformation (Aldershot, Hampshire: Ashgate, 2007).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: 1550, Second